Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne RNAse and Transformation 
Name: Amanda
Status: Other
Grade: Other
Location: OH
Country: United States
Date: December 2005
Question:
If you are testing the DNA transforming principle and you add RNAse to the DNA does it effect the transforming principle?


Replies:
Dear Amanda,
The short answer is no, but that will not get you the grade. The key to the answer is what is the target of RNase enzyme and is this similar or distinct to the DNA transforming principle.

Jim Tokuhisa, Ph.D.

RNAse does not inactivate the transforming principle, however, DNAse does. This statement assumes that the RNAse is pure and is not contaminated with DNAse.

Ron Baker, Ph.D.

No, it doesn't, as long as the RNAse is sufficiently pure so as to not contain any DNAse. In practice, before really good pure RNAse was available, we would prepare a batch of RNAse by boiling the heck out of it. The boiling would destroy any contaminating DNAse enzyme activity, but not the RNAse activity, since RNAse is a remarkably stable enzyme.

Paul Mahoney, PhD


Click here to return to the Molecular Biology Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory