Abstract
WE have recently taken X-ray photographs of ribonucleic acids (RNA) from various sources. Powdered or lyophilized specimens from tobacco mosaic virus, turnip yellow mosaic virus, calf liver, calf thymus (two preparative techniques) and yeast have been examined. The photographs appear to be identical (Table 1), suggesting that there is an underlying three-dimensional configuration common to all ribonucleic acids, despite the large differences in the purine–pyrimidine ratios1. Of course, the non-crystallinity of the specimens would preclude the detection of minor differences between the patterns. It should be noted that these X-ray powder patterns are different from those obtained from deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)2.
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References
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RICH, A., WATSON, J. Physical Studies on Ribonucleic Acid. Nature 173, 995–996 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/173995a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/173995a0
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