THE RELATIONS BETWEEN DNA, RNA, AND PROTEIN IN NORMAL EMBRYONIC CELL NUCLEI AND SPONTANEOUS TUMOUR CELL NUCLEI

Interferometric and photometric measurements have been made successively on individual cell nuclei derived from normal embryonic tissues and spontaneous tumour tissues of the mouse grown in vivo. From the measurements, the relations between nucleic acid and dry mass content have been studied in the two types of nuclei and the results shown to be consistent with differences in cell metabolism previously reported to exist in vitro. In the nuclei of normal embryonic cells, the syntheses of DNA, nuclear RNA, and protein appear to be closely associated, whereas in the tumour cell nuclei an appreciable fraction of the chromatin RNA and protein synthesis is dissociated from the replication of DNA.