BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON STREPTOLYSIN S

I. EFFECTS OF ALKALI-TREATED RIBONUCLEIC ACID IN THE HEMOLYSIN FORMATION

Abstract

1. The hemolysin-forming potencies of the differently alkali-hydrolyzed nucleic acids were studied.
2. In the early stages of alkaline hydrolysis slight enhancement of the potency was observed.
3. Through acetone fractionation of unhydrolyzed nucleic acid and of that briefly treated with alklai, the fractions were tested for hemoly-sin-forming potency. In both cases, it appears that only rather large molecules have such potency.
The authors wish to thank Prof. F. Egami for his helpful suggestions in this work. It is a pleasure to acknowledge several helpful discussions with Dr. Y. Yagi.