The occurrence of two types of deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase activity in the main classes of nuclei obtained from the brains of infant and adult rats

Abstract

1. The influence of exogenous or activated DNA template on the DNA polymerase activity in the different types of intact nuclei from rat brain tissue was determined. The different amounts or physical state of the DNA template did not produce significant differences in the relative distribution of the DNA polymerase activity between the separate groups of nuclei. 2. The DNA polymerase activities, fractionated by sucrose gradient centrifugation into enzyme A and enzyme B, were found to be present in the extracts of all types of rat brain nuclei. The distribution of these two activities in the ‘particulate’ and ‘soluble’ fractions of the separate groups of nuclei from 10-day-old and adult rats was studied. The findings are related to the DNA-synthetic activity in vivo of the intact nuclei and the possible biological functions of the DNA polymerase activities are discussed.