Chromatography of Drosophila tRNA on BD-cellolose

Conditions for the amino acylation of Drosophila melanogaster tRNA with the 20 14 C-labelled amino acids were established. Crude tRNA prepared from adult flies of wild-type D. melanogaster was chromatographed on BD-cellulose columns, and the fractions were assayed for amino acid acceptor activity. The elution profiles of the tRNAs are presented. The crude tRNA was chromatographed on a Sephadex G-100 column to isolate the 5 S RNA, which constituted 9% of this material. The 5 S RNA was further chromatographed on BD-cellulose and was resolved into one major and two minor peaks. The nucleotide composition of these peaks was determined by RNase T 2 digestion and two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography.