Electrophoretic behavior and crystal violet adsorption capacity of ribonuclease treated bacterial cells.

This study was undertaken to compare certain aspects of the colloidal behavior of ribonuclease treated bacterial cells with that of normal cells. Henry and Stacey (1943) and others have reported that ribonucleic acid plays an important role in gram staining. Many early investigators suggested that the electrical charge on the bacterial cell was an important factor in staining in general. If these concepts are correct, it would appear that the removal of ribonucleic acid from bacterial cells should affect quantitatively the adsorption of crystal violet. Also, since the phosphate radical of nucleic acid is believed by many to represent one of the major negative polar groups of living material, the removal of nucleic acid might be expected to affect bacterial electrophoretic mobility. This study was designed to obtain comparable quantitative data relative to the electrophoretic mobility and crystal violet adsorbing capacity of normal bacterial cells and similar cells from which nucleic acid had been removed by treatment with ribonuclease.