ArticleShirshov AT, Lunina LD, Zaitseva GN.
Biokhimiia. 1978 May;43(5):824-9.
An associate of kinetoplast DNA (k-DNA) was isolated from the cells of Trypanosoma lewisi and characterized in terms of its sedimentation properties, melting parameters and reassociation kinetics. Electron microscopy studies showed that k-DNA isolated is a complex associate of circular molecules. The contour length of minicircular molecules is 0.77 mkm. k-DNA contains sites enriched by AT-pairs; melting of native associate and k-DNA fragments in the presence of 6.5 M sodium perchlorate results in the appearance of six zones within the temperature range of 47-64 degrees C. Data from k-DNA reassociation studies suggest that k-DNA associate constitutent molecules differ in sizes and nucleotide sequences. k-DNA is found to consist of two components with molecular weights of 1.7 . 10(6) and 17.5 . 10(6), respectively.