title: Demonstration of free reverse transcriptase in the nuclei of embryonic tissues of the Japanese quail.
abstract: Reverse transcriptase is detected in the nuclei as well as the cytoplasm of normal uninfected Japanese quail embryonic tissues. At least 60% of the nuclear enzyme occurs in the free-form, whereas 85% of the cytoplasmic enzyme is bound to particles having a buoyant density equivalent to retroviral cores (1.19-1.22 g/ml). The enzyme is purified by ion-exchange chromatography and glycerol sedimentation gradients. It prefers oligo(dG) . poly(C) in Mg2+ to all other synthetic template-primers, and transcribes poly(A) containing RNAs. Information present in the above particles is endogenous indicating that RT is not derived from exogenous retrovirus.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000201:enzymology*; D003370:Coturnix / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D011784:Quail / Q000235:genetics*; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase