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Contents 



V 



Preface vii 



Chapter 1. Chemical Specificity of Nucleic Acids and Mechanism 



of Their Enzymic Degradation 1 



1. Introduction 1 



2. Identity and diversity in high-molecular cell constituents . 2 



3. Purpose 5 



4. Preparation of the analytical material 6 



5. Separation and estimation of purines and pyrimidines . • 7 



6. Methods of hydrolysis 10 



7. Composition of deoxypentose nucleic acids 11 



8. Composition of pentose nucleic acids 15 



9. Sugar components 18 



10. Depolymerizing enzymes 18 



11. Concluding remarks 20 



References 23 



Chapter 2. Structure and Function of Nucleic Acids as Cell 



Constituents 25 



1. Biological significance of nucleic acids 26 



2. Deoxypentose nucleic acids 27 



3. Pentose nucleic acids 35 



4. Final remarks 35 



References 37 



Chapter 3. Deoxypentose Nucleoproteins and Their Prosthetic 



Groups 39 



1. Introduction 39 



2. Deoxypentose nucleoproteins 41 



3. Deoxypentose nucleic acids 50 



References 60 



Chapter 4. The Chemistry and Function of Nucleoproteins and 



Nucleic Acids 62 



1. Introduction 62 



2. Nucleoproteins 63 



3. Deoxypentose nucleic acids 65 



4. Fractionation of deoxypentose nucleic acids 66 



S2672 



