Characterization of leucine transfer ribonucleic acid in Escherichia coli following infection with bacteriophage T2.

Reversed phase column chromatography was used to fractionate leucine transfer RNA from Escherichia coZi, both from uninfected cells and from cells 8 min after infection with bacteriophage T2. Each type of tRNA gave five components of leucine tRNA, leul to leus. Comparison of the two chromatographic proliles indicated that the relative amount of leul decreased after T2 infection, with a corresponding increase in leus. The five leucine tRNA components, once separated on the reversed phase column, could be distinguished from each other by direct comparison on a methylated albumin-Kieselguhr (MAK) column. The five leucine tRNA components from T&infected E. coli were compared with the five leucine tRNAs from uninfected cells on a series of MAK columns. leul, leu2, and leus from T&infected cells gave identical MAK profiles when compared with their counterparts from uninfected cells. On the other hand, the MAK profiles of leur and leus from T24nfected E. coli were different from those of leul and leus from uninfected cells.