Electron microscope studies of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in Escherichia coli: localization of (3H)thymidine in deoxyribonucleic acid-membrane complexes.

The attachment of deoxyribonucleic acid to the membrane in Escherichia coli 15 T(-) cells incubated with [(3)H]thymidine was studied by electron microscopy. Isolated deoxyribonucleic acid-membrane complexes were prepared from synchronized and unsynchronized cells during the exponential or stationary phase of growth and were examined by autoradiography. After short pulses with [(3)H]thymidine, a specific enrichment in radioactivity was observed in areas of membranous structures in exponentially growing cells. In contrast, the grain tracks produced in autoradiographs of chromosomes from cells in stationary phase were randomly distributed. The autoradiographic patterns are, therefore, evidence that deoxyribonucleic acid replication is closely related to the bacterial membrane.