The present paper deals with the chemical properties of the polynucleotide in the vegetative cell of natto-bacteria as well as their relation to the previously investigated polynucleotide in the cultural filtrate of the same organism.
The preparative procedure of the polynucleotide was as follows. The dried vegetative cells from cultural fluids were homogenized and extracted in a mortar in the presence of glass powder and 0.1 N-NaOH soln. The centrifuged extracts were acidified by the addition of 1N-HCl to 0.25N concentration yielding white precipitate. The precipitate were then centrifuged and washed with solvents and dried in vacuum desiccator. 1 litre of cultural fluids yielded about 5g of dried cells and about 150mg of dried preparation.
The preparation was white amorphous powder and gave the ultra-violet spectrum characteristic to nucleic acids and contained 13-15% of DNA and 10-12% of RNA.
The hydrolysate of the preparation was observed to contain five kinds of bases and fifteen kinds of amino acids.
The polynucleotide in the cultural fluids of natto-bacteria seems to be slightly decomposed polynucleotide in the vegetative cells at the growth stage prior to the phase of lysis.