Characterization of putative nuclear pre-messenger RNA of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.

Ehrlich ascites tumor cell putative nuclear pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) was isolated under conditions minimizing RNA degradation by ribonucleases, aggregation, and non-specific protein-RNA interaction. Isolated under these conditions, it sedimented 10 to 12 S; proteinase K, a powerful proteolytic enzyme with a broad action spectrum, gave similar sedimentation values and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed the major component migrating ahead of 16S E. Coli rRNA marker. Cesium chloride buoyant density analysis of pre-mRNA revealed 2 components (1.51 and 1.68 g/cm3). Therefore, pre-mRNA appeared to be smaller than some previous reports.