33. NUCLEIC ACIDS OF THE BACTERIAL VIRUSES 201 



TABLE II 

 Extent of Glucosylation of the HMC of T-Even and Related Phages 



*A small amount of HMC-(gl); has been found in hydrolyzates of T2 DNA by I. R. Lehman 

 (personal communication, 1959). 



References 



a R. L. Sinsheimer, Science 120, 551 (1954). 



6 R. L. Sinsheimer, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. 42, 502 (1956). 



c M. A. Jesaitis, Nature 178, 637 (1956). 



d M. A. Jesaitis, J. Exptl. Med. 106, 233 (1957). 



e E. Volkin, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 76, 5892 (1954). 



/ M. R. Loeb and S. S. Cohen, J. Biol. Chem. 234, 364 (1959). 



" M. A. Jesaitis, Federation Proc. 17, 250 (1958). 



tain deoxycytidylic acid (dCMP), found in all other DNA investigated. 68 

 In place of cytosine (C), these nucleic acids contain 5-hydroxymethylcyto- 

 sine (HMC) 69 often substituted in the 5-hydroxy methyl group with one or 

 two glucose residues. 7072 The presence of this unusual pyrimidine has 

 proved most useful in studies of the synthesis of the viral nucleic acids 

 (vide infra). 



As indicated in Tables I and II, the proportions of the nucleotides in 

 the different T-even phages are not significantly different with the excep- 

 tion of the proportion of single or double glycosyl substitution upon the 

 hydro xymethylcytosine. The proportion of glucose substitution is an in- 

 herited trait, although in mixed infections of T2 and T4 it does not behave 

 as a simple Mendelian trait. Thus, in a cross of T2 and T4 all the progeny 

 investigated appear to have the glucose content characteristic of T4 re- 

 gardless of their genetic pattern. 73, 74 Crosses of T2 and T6, however, have 

 yielded progeny with either the glucose content of T2 or of T6 associated 

 with either the host range character of T2 or of T6. 75 Thus, the genetic 



68 E. Chargaff, in "The Nucleic Acids" (E. Chargaff and J. N. Davidson, eds.), Vol. 

 I, p. 307. Academic Press, New York, 1955. 



69 G. R. Wyatt and S. S. Cohen, Biochem. J. 55, 774 (1953). 



70 R. L. Sinsheimer, Science 120, 551 (1954). 



71 E. Volkin, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 76, 5892 (1954). 



72 M. A. Jesaitis, Nature 178, 637 (1956). 



73 R. L. Sinsheimer, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. 42, 502 (1956). 



74 G. Streisinger and J. J. Weigle, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. 42, 504 (1956). 



75 M. A. Jesaitis, Federation Proc. 17, 250 (1958). 



