Isolation and Characterization of Nucleic‐Acid‐Like Polymers Containing Glucose from Ehrlich Ascites Tumor Cells

Abstract

Novel nucleic‐acid‐like polymers containing glucose, glucose ‘nucleic acid’, were isolated from cytoplasmic particles of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. It is assumed that the basic structure of the polymers is similar to those of known nucleic acids except that their sugar constituents are glucose derivatives instead of ribose or deoxyribose. When the glucose ‘nucleic acid’ was incubated with venom phosphodiesterase, four kinds of glucose ‘nucleotides’ containing bases of cytosine, adenine, guanine and thymine were obtained. When the polymers were incubated with both venom phosphodiesterase and alkaline phosphatase, inorganic phosphates of glucose ‘nucleotides’ were removed and each nucleotide was converted to a glucose ‘nucleoside’.