Pulse-RNA-DNA hybridization between rodshaped and coccal species of the Moraxella-Neisseria groups.

Abstract

Pulse-RNA-3H extracted from 4 species of moraxellae and neisseriae were hybridized to DNA from 14 species of rodshaped and coccal organisms belonging to these groups, one species of Acinetobacter and from Escherichia coli, in 44 out of 64 possible combinations. The affinities observed ranged from zero to 34.2 per cent of autologous hybridization activity (DNA and RNA from the same strain). In the combinations of strains studied, the hybridization affinities were essentially of the same relative order as in transformation of streptomycin resistance. Additional evidence was provided in favour of a recent redefinition of the genera Moraxella and Neisseria, in which each genus contains both rodshaped and coccal organisms.