ABSTRACT: RNA was isolated from early stationary phase S. gordonii V288(OD620 nm ~ 1.8).Bacteria were grown in chemically defined synthetic media (FMC) ( K2HPO4, 300 µg ml-1; KH2PO4 440 µg ml-1; Na2HPO4, 3.15 mg ml-1; NaH2PO4, 2.05 mg ml-1; (NH4)2SO4 0.6 mg ml-1; sodium citrate, 225 µg ml-1; riboflavin, 0.4 µg ml-1; biotin, 0.01 µg ml-1; folic acid, 0.1 µg ml-1; pantothenate, 0.8 µg ml-1; p-aminobenzoic acid 0.1 µg ml-1; thiamine 0.4 µg ml-1; nicotinamide 2.0 µg ml-1; pyridoxamine 0.8 µg ml-1; D-glucose 20 mg ml-1; sodium acetate 6 mg ml-1; adenine 35 µg ml-1; guanine µg ml-1; uracil µg ml-1; MgSO4, 200 µg ml-1; NaCl, 10 µg ml-1; FeSO4, 10 µg ml-1; MnSO4 10 µg ml-1; glutamine 5 µg ml-1; L-glutamic acid, 300 µg ml-1; L-valine, 100 µg ml-1; 110 µg ml-1 of L-lysine, L-asparate, L-isoleucine, L-methionine, L-serine, L-phenylalanine and 200 µg ml-1 of L-alanine, L-cystine, L-histidine, glycine, L-hydroxyproline, L-proline, L-tryptophan and L-tyrosine, pH 6.5) (Terleckyj & Shockman, 1975; Terleckyj et al., 1975) at 37°C in 5% CO2.