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Mechanism of RNA degradation in the rate liver

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6621294
The intracellular location of the RNA degradation pathway producing cytidine in perfused rat livers was established using subcellular fractionation. The release of ({sup 14}C) cytidine in incubated homogenate subcellular fractions from livers prelabeled with (6-{sup 14}C) orotic acid initially paralleled the distribution of a lysosomal marker enzyme. The pool of degradable RNA in NML fraction particles was calculated from the molar content of labeled cytidine in homogenates after 2 h of incubation at pH 6.0 in the presence of an infinite concentration of an unlabeled RNA diluent after correction for the nonlysosomal labeled cytidine release in the microsomal-supernatant fraction. Subsequent studies focused on the regulation of this pathway in vivo. Net and unidirectional rates of RNA degradation to nucleosides were evaluated from the molar release of cytidine during cyclic liver perfusions. The breakdown of RNA to 5{prime}-nucleotide end products was also evaluated in animals starved for 6 h. By assuming that RNA degradation was the sole source of nucleoside triphosphates for RNA synthesis, a maximal estimate of RNA degradation resulting in 5{prime}-nucleotide end products was calculated from the difference between the incorporation of CTP into cytoplasmic RNA and the component of the that CTP incorporation resulting from the reutilization of cytidine.
Research Organization:
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (USA)
OSTI ID:
6621294
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English