Chapter 17, Problem 59TQ

Summary Introduction

To review:

The identification of two bands (supercoiled DNA and relaxed DNA) obtained by cesium chloride gradient centrifugation of circular DNA isolated from polyomavirus.

Introduction:

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material for the majority of organisms. It can exist in the form of circular DNA (plasmid) or in the form of linear double-strandedDNA. Circular DNA is usually found in bacteria and some viruses. Both linear and circular forms of DNA can be either relaxed or supercoiled (highly compact). These forms can be separated by using CsCl gradient centrifugation.