STUDIES ON MITOCHONDRIA : II. Mitochondrial DNA of Thoracic Muscles of Schistocerca gregaria

The buoyant densities of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from the thoracic muscles of Schistocerca gregaria were found to be 1 702 and 1.689 g/cm(3), respectively, corresponding to guanine plus cytosine (G + C) content of 42.2 and 30% A preliminary treatment of the mitochondrial pellet with DNase (25°C, 20 min) is necessary to eliminate the contaminating nuclear DNA. The mitochondrial DNA renatures readily after heat denaturation and incubation at 65°C. The DNA released from the mitochondrial pellet by osmotic shock consists of circular open and closed molecules with a contour length around 5 µ The instability of insect mitochondria in in vitro preparations is discussed.