Maternal RNA content in oocytes of several mammalian and avian species.

The amount of maternal RNA in the oocytes of several mammalian (mouse, rabbit, cow, pig, sheep) and avian (hen, Japanese quail, guinea hen, turkey) species was determined. For mammals these were in the range of 0.47 ng/oocyte (mouse) to 0.

Quantitation of nanogram amounts of nucleic acids in the presence of proteins by the ethidium bromide staining technique.

Modification of the method for determining low amounts of RNA and DNA is proposed. It consists in nucleic acid staining in solution with EtBr (1 microgram/ml) followed by photography of 10 microliters drops on a UV-transparent plate under UV illumination. Densitometric measurements of the Polaroid negatives were used to construct standard concentration curves in the range of 1-16 micrograms/ml of DNA or RNA.