[173] Purine- and pyrimidine-protein conjugates

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on purine- and pyrimidine-protein conjugates. Various chemical procedures have been used to conjugate peptides, sugars, steroids, and other relatively small molecules to proteins and have been used successfully to elicit antibodies specific for the introduced grouping. These principles have been used to obtain antibodies capable of reacting with denatured DNA and with RNA. The reaction with DNA has been demonstrated by complement fixation, precipitation, passive cutaneous anaphylaxis, and a combination of radioautography and immunoelectrophoresis. The reaction with RNA has been demonstrated directly by precipitation and indirectly by an inhibition reaction. The procedure utilized to couple purine and pyrimidine ribonucleosides and ribonucleotides to proteins is a general one that requires only the presence of vicinal hydroxyl groups on the sugar moiety. The method of coupling is illustrated. It has been successfully used for the preparation of protein conjugates of ribonucleosides of the five common purine and pyrimidine bases, as well as for a number of di-, tri and tetra-ribonucleotidess. The procedure that can be applied to the formation of conjugates with any ribonucleoside or ribonucleotide is described in the chapter.