Figure 1.

In-line cleavage of rRNA in anoxia. In-line cleavage of purified rRNAs with (A) 1 mM Fe²⁺ (0–8 h) and (B) 25 mM Mg²⁺ (0–96 h). Reactions were conducted in an anoxic Coy chamber at 37°C in the presence of the hydroxyl radical quencher glycerol (5% v/v) and were analyzed by 1% agarose gel electrophoresis. Pseudo first-order rate plots were extracted from 23S and 16S rRNA band intensities for (C) 1 mM Fe²⁺ and (D) 25 mM Mg²⁺. The Mg²⁺ time axis is 10 times greater than the Fe²⁺ time axis. Error bars represent the SEM (standard error of the mean; n = 3).