Deoxyribonuclease I sensitivity of DNA replicated in permeable mouse sarcoma cells.

To study chromatin structure at the sites of DNA replicated in permeable cells, deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) sensitivity of newly replicated DNA in permeable mouse sarcoma cells was compared with that of newly replicated DNA in intact cells. About 35% of the DNA replicated in permeable cells was hypersensitive to DNase I, and the remaining DNA showed the same DNase I sensitivity as that of parental chromatin DNA. The sensitivity of DNA replicated in permeable cells was higher than that of DNA newly replicated in intact cells, and was close to that of DNA replicated in the presence of cycloheximide. The sensitivity of DNA pulse-labeled with [3H]deoxythymidine triphosphate by replication in permeable cells was reduced significantly by chasing with cold deoxythymidine triphosphate. The present results suggest that chromatin structure at the sites of DNA replicated in permeable cells is similar to that at the sites of DNA replicated in living cells in the absence of protein synthesis, and that some structural change (possibly toward the maturation) of newly replicated chromatin occurs after the DNA replication in permeable cells.