The kinetics of accumulation of radioactive adenosine in adenosine triphosphate and in RNA of nuclear, cytoplasmic, and polysomal fractions of sea urchin embryos have been analyzed. 85% of the RNA synthesized decays in the nucleus with an apparently uniform half-life of about 7 min. The remaining 15% goes to the cytoplasm, mostly entering polysomes, and decays with a quite uniform half-life of about 75 min. The nuclear RNA accounts for one-third and the cytoplasmic RNA accounts for two-thirds of the total unstable RNA which accumulates at steady state in the embryo. The size distribution of short-labeled nuclear RNA is very similar to that of long-labeled messenger RNA, when both are extracted directly from the cells without a previous cell fractionation.
Article|
May 01 1972
STABILITIES OF NUCLEAR AND MESSENGER RNA MOLECULES IN SEA URCHIN EMBRYOS
Bruce P. Brandhorst,
Bruce P. Brandhorst
From the Department of Biology, Revelle College, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037.
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Tom Humphreys
Tom Humphreys
From the Department of Biology, Revelle College, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037.
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Bruce P. Brandhorst
From the Department of Biology, Revelle College, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037.
Tom Humphreys
From the Department of Biology, Revelle College, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037.
Dr. Brandhorst's present address is the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80302. Dr. Humphrey's present address is the Pacific Biomedical Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822.
Received:
July 06 1971
Revision Received:
January 10 1972
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
Copyright © 1972 by The Rockefeller University Press
1972
J Cell Biol (1972) 53 (2): 474–482.
Article history
Received:
July 06 1971
Revision Received:
January 10 1972
Citation
Bruce P. Brandhorst, Tom Humphreys; STABILITIES OF NUCLEAR AND MESSENGER RNA MOLECULES IN SEA URCHIN EMBRYOS . J Cell Biol 1 May 1972; 53 (2): 474–482. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.53.2.474
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