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Thymine content of sea water as a measure of biosynthetic potential

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Abstract

A hydrolysis procedure along with a high-pressure liquid chromatographic procedure is given enabling simple and reliable thymine determinations in the nanogram range in different fractions of sea-water samples taken from three different locations in the Northern Adriatic Sea. The levels corresponded to 1–3 μg DNA per liter. From total polyanionic thymine, which had been precipitated as the cetyltrimethylammonium salt, the highest percentage was linked to the particulate fraction, with a definite subsurface minimum at 10 to 15 m. There was a corresponding maximum of a high molecular “non-particulate” thymine-containing fraction at the corresponding depth. From the bottom at 30 m upwards to about 20 m, a low molecular thymine-containing material has been found. Remarkably these basic features were common to all three locations, one of which was supposed to be in clean water, one near a thickly settled, touristic area, and the other in front of a large river delta coming from industrial hinterland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany (FRG)

    H. -J. Breter, B. Kurelec, W. E. G. Müller & R. K. Zahn

  2. Laboratory for Marine Molecular Biology, Rudjer Bošković Institute, Rovinj, Yugoslavia

    H. -J. Breter, B. Kurelec, W. E. G. Müller & R. K. Zahn

Authors
  1. H. -J. Breter
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  2. B. Kurelec
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  3. W. E. G. Müller
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  4. R. K. Zahn
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg

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Breter, H.J., Kurelec, B., Müller, W.E.G. et al. Thymine content of sea water as a measure of biosynthetic potential. Marine Biology 40, 1–8 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00390621

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00390621

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