Ribosomes and Ribonucleic Acids of Coxiella burneti

Abstract

This report describes the direct isolation and characterization of rickettsial ribosomes. Ribosomes from the rickettsia Coxiella burneti were isolated and partially characterized. The ribosomes had a sedimentation constant of about 70 S and could be dissociated into 50 and 30 S subunits. Electron microscopy revealed ribosomal particles with dimensions similar to those reported for other procaryotic organisms. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) species (23 and 16 S ) were isolated from the ribosomal particles. The nucleotide compositions of the ribosomal RNAs were found to be similar to those reported for bacterial ribosomal RNA. In addition to the high-molecular-weight ribosomal RNA, 5 S RNA was also extracted from the organism.