412 F. GROS 



mine and to uridylic acid) is in fact a component of the cell wall, the synthesis of 

 which is prevented by the inhibitor. 



In regard to nucleic acid synthesis, the compounds related to ribonucleic 

 acid (RXA) most frequently found are ribonucleoside triphosphates or 

 ribonucleoside diphosphates 17 ' 18 ; those related to deoxyribonucleic acid 

 (DNA) are deoxynucleoside diphosphates, or deoxyribosides. 19 No oligo- 

 nucleotide, of a size bigger than a dinucleotide and smaller than the soluble 

 RNA (sRNA) has been found in the pool of any bacterium. Very recently, 

 however, bacteria, fungi, and algae, have been shown to contain nucleotide 

 derivatives of a new type such as mononucleotide-peptide complexes. 20 " 25 

 Their concentration in the cell is small and their role is unknown. They may 

 possibly originate from an RNA peptide complex 26 and may be common 

 precursors of protein and RNA, 27 ' 2S or products of amino acid activation 

 by nucleoside triphosphates. 



2. Amino Acid Activation Systems — Soluble RNA 



Since the discovery of activating mechanisms for amino acids in animal 

 cells 3 ' 29 and the isolation of RNA amino acid complexes 30 similar systems 

 have been sought in intact bacteria. Adenylamino acids have never been 

 found in the free state, a fact which is probably accounted for by the ex- 

 treme affinity of such products for their specific enzymes. 29 However, the 

 existence of amino acid-activating systems has been widely demonstrated 

 in bacteria. Crude bacterial extracts can activate all the amino acids 31 in 

 spite of previous reports to the contrary. 32 Furthermore, many activating 



17 R. B. Hurlbert, in "Methods in Enzymology" (S. P. Colowick and X. (). Kaplan, 

 eds.), Vol. Ill, p. 785. Academic Press, New York, 1957. 



18 J. Baddiley and A. P. Mathias, J. Chem. Soc. p. 2733 (1954). 



19 E. Hoff-Jorgensen, Bio chem. J. 50, 400 (1951). 



20 V. V. Koningsberger, C. O. van der Grinten, and J. T. C. Overbeek, Biochim. et 

 Biophys. Acta 26, 483 (1957). 



21 J. H. Weil, G. Dirheimer, and J. P. Ebel, 4th Intern. Cong. Biochcm., Vienna, Abstr. 

 p. 21 (1958). 



22 A. P. Brown, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 30, 447 (1958). 



23 G. Haris, J. W. Davies, and R. Parsons, Nature 182, 1565 (1958). 



24 R. Bergkvist, Acta Chem. Scand. 12, 364 (1958). 



25 E. Hase, S. Mihara, H. Otsuka, and H. Tamiya, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 32, 

 298 (1959). 



26 V. Habermann, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 32, 297 (1959). 



27 A. B. Pardee and L. S. Prestige, J. Bacteriol. 71, 677 (1956). 



28 F. Gros and Francoise Gros, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta, 22, 200, (1956). 



29 M. B. Hoagland, 4th Intern. Congr. Biochem., Vienna Symposium No. 8, (1958). 



30 M. B. Hoagland, P. C. Zamecnik, and M. L. Stephenson, Biochim. et Biophys. 

 .4 eta 24, 215 (1957). 



31 B. Nisman, F. Bergman, and P. Berg, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 26, 639 (1957). 



32 J. A. De Moss and D. Novelli, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 18, 592 (1955). 



