AN ELECTROPHORETIC STUDY OF MIXTURES OF OVALBUMIN AND YEAST NUCLEIC ACID BY LEWIS G. LONGSWORTH AND D. A. MAcINNES

In an ideal electrophoresis of a solution of two components the volumes swept through by the rising and descending boundaries due to each component are identical and are proportional to the mobilities of the separate components. Moreover, the area under each "peak" in the electrophoretic pattern is proportional to the stoichiometric concentration of that component in the mixture to which it is due. In this ideal or limiting case the patterns for the two sides of the channel of the Tiselins electrophoresis cell are mirror images of each other. The two patterns are, however, never exact mirror images. The authors have already discussed 1 the asymmetries, including the ~ and ~ effects, that are observed in the electrophoretic patterns of a single component and deviations of this type are, of course, to be expected in the electrolysis of mixtures. In the case, however, of some mixtures asymmetries were observed 2 which appeared to be due to interaction between the constituents. This led to the research, to be described below, in which the effect of interaction of components on electrophoretic patterns has been investigated further, using mixtures of ovalbumin and yeast nucleic acid. I t is also the purpose of this paper to indicate a method for the electrophoretic analysis of mixtures in which certain types of interaction occur, and to discuss the manner in which the asymmetries in the electrophoretic patterns arise.