Regulation of protein synthesis during sea urchin early development

Miscellaneous · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6939602

Kelso, L C

Fertilization of the sea urchin egg results in a 20-40 fold increase in the rate of protein synthesis. The masked message hypothesis proposes that mRNAs are masked or unavailable for translation in the egg. We devised an in vivo assay to test this hypothesis. Our results show that masked mRNAs limit protein synthesis in the unfertilized egg. In addition, we show that protein synthesis is also regulated at the level of translational machinery. Following fertilization is a period of rapid cell divisions. This period, known as the rapid cleavage stage, is characterized by the transient synthesis of a novel set of proteins. The synthesis of these proteins is programmed by maternal mRNAs stored in the unfertilized egg. To study the behavior of these mRNAs, we prepared a cDNA library from polysomal poly (A+) RNA from 2-hour embryos. ({sup 32}P) labeled probes, prepared from the cDNA library, were used to monitor the levels of individual mRNAs in polysomes at fertilization and during early development.

• Research Organization: Texas Univ., Austin, TX (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6939602
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
MESSENGER-RNA
TRANSCRIPTION
ONTOGENESIS
BIOCHEMISTRY
PROTEINS
BIOSYNTHESIS
BIOASSAY
CELL DIFFERENTIATION
CELL DIVISION
EMBRYOS
PHOSPHORUS 32
POST-TRANSLATION MODIFICATION
SEA URCHINS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMISTRY
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ECHINODERMS
INVERTEBRATES
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
NUCLEIC ACIDS
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
RADIOISOTOPES
RNA
SYNTHESIS
550201* - Biochemistry- Tracer Techniques
550801 - Morphology- Tracer Techniques