Abstract
MOST discussions on the nature of the code between RNA and protein have given consideration only to the four major bases and have ignored the existence of the minor bases known to occur in RNA. Bergquist and Matthews1 have suggested on the basis of analytical data on RNA fractions from various tissues that all the methylated purines occur in soluble RNA and that the small proportion of these bases found in other fractions, for example ribosomal RNA, may be due to transfer RNA functionally associated with these particles at the time of extraction. We also calculated that there may be roughly 1–2 methylated purine residues in each molecule of pH 5.2 precipitate RNA, but at that time we could see no special function for such bases. However, two recent papers2,3 on RNA make it possible to suggest such a function.
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References
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MATTHEWS, R. A Possible Role for Minor Bases in Ribonucleic Acid. Nature 197, 796–797 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/197796a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/197796a0
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