The Reaction of Anti-Deoxyribonucleic Acid Sera with Nucleoside and Nucleotide Conjugates

Abstract

As is well known, the specificity and sensitivity of immunochemical reactions have been of great value in the study of polymers such as polysaccharides and proteins (Heidelberger, 1960, 1967). Also well known is the role of nucleic acids as carrier of genetic information and as a participant in protein synthesis and other biological events (Vogel et al., 1963). There is, therefore, considerable interest and value in having available antibodies capable of reacting specifically with nucleic acids. Recently, the production of such antibodies has been described; it is based on the use of nucleic acid-protein complexes as antigens or the use of conjugation of nucleic acid derivatives and macromolecules.

This work was carried out, in part, with the aid of a grant from the Brown-Hazen fund of the Research Corporation. We also wish to thank graduate students Oscar Rojas and Carlos Arroyave for their help.