Improved simple chromatographic method for the fractionation of major classes of mammalian nucleic acids

CL-Sepharose 4B column chromatography has been used for the separation of four major classes of mammalian nucleic acids in a single chromatographic run. Gel filtration at 2.5 M NaCl separated DNAs (containing RNA hybrids) from tRNAs. The 18 S RNA (containing 3-5 wt% of small 5 S RNA and RNA degradative products) was eluted at 0.7 M NaCl, and 28 S RNA (containing hnRNAs) was eluted at 0.1 M NaCl. Poly(A)+ mRNAs were detected in both 18 and 28 S RNA fractions. The present procedure is suitable for both analytical and preparative work and may serve as an initial step for the further isolation of ultrapure nucleic acid preparations.