Nuclease treatment of broken bacterial suspensions for removal of highly polymerised nucleic acids

The use of nucleases for depolymerisation of nucleic acids in suspensions of disrupted bacterial cells has been shown to result in a reduction in the viscosity and an increase in the volume of supernatant recoverable after centrifugation. Precipitation of protein from nuclease treated suspensions, followed by dialysis of the protein precipitate, resulted in removal of most of the nucleotide material from the protein solution.