Use of phosphorus-32 in microassay for nucleic acid synthesis in Escherichia coli.

A method was developed to facilitate studies of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in growing bacterial cultures of small volume. The nucleic acid fractions were separated by means of a modified Schmidt-Thannhauser procedure applied to micro quantities of P(32)-labeled cells collected on membrane filters. The validity and usefulness of the method are discussed.