BIOLOGICAL ROLE OF DEOXYPENTOSE NUCLEIC ACIDS 



445 



TABLE 1 

 Properties of Pneumococcus Type III Transforming Agent 



" Based on relative optical density units. 



'' Comparative values at time when protein hydrolysis is complete; release here 

 is slow, linear, dependent upon acidity and temperature. 



(1) Recognition of DNA Nature. The purified pneumococcus-transform- 

 ing factor inducing capsular Type III has the chemical and analytical 

 properties of a DXA, as indicated in Table I. It will be noted that it is 



*' R. D. Hotchkiss, Colloq. intern, centre natl. recherche sci. (Paris) 8, Unites biol. 



donees contin. genet. 57 (1949). 

 " M. M. Daly, V. G. AUfrey, and A. E. Mirsky, /. Gen. Physiol. 33, 497 (1950). 

 " R. D. Hotchkiss, in "Phosphorus Metabolism" (^IcElroy and Glass, eds.), Vol. 2, 



p. 426. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1952. 



