Nucleic Acids, Their Components and Related Compounds

Abstract

The nucleic acids have been known as major constituents of cell nuclei since their discovery in animal tissues by Miescher (1871). The first nucleic acid to be obtained from plants was that from yeast (Altmann, 1889), followed by the discovery of a similar substance, called “triticonucleic acid”, by Osborne and Harris in 1902. As it happened, the two latter nucleic acids were of a different type from that in animal tissues, containing a pentose (ribose) as part of their structure, while the animal or “thymus nucleic” acid contained a sugar which eventually proved to be 2-deoxyribose. This led to the belief, which was to persist for many years that there were two kinds of nucleic acid: that from plants or “yeast nucleic acid”, and that from animals or “thymus nucleic acid”. Eventually, however, in 1924, Jones and Perkins found the former in pancreas, and Feulgen and Rossenbeck found evidence of the latter in the nuclei of wheat germ.