1. Nuclei from rat liver incubated with S-adenosyl[methyl-(14)C]methionine incorporated radioactivity into RNA and into lipid and protein. 2. All of the labelled RNA was extracted from the nuclei with trichloroacetic acid at 90 degrees C. 3. The [(14)C]methyl-group incorporation into the hot-trichloroacetic acid extract was 30% inhibited by the addition of actinomycin D (100mug/mg of DNA) or by the omission of CTP, GTP and UTP. 4. Assuming that the main substrate for this triphosphate-dependent methylation was newly synthesized precursor rRNA containing one methyl group/30 uridylate residues, it was calculated that approx. 60% of the [(14)C]UMP incorporated under similar conditions represented precursor rRNA synthesis. 5. In agreement with this, low concentrations of actinomycin D (approx. 1mug/mg of DNA) sufficient to abolish the triphosphate-dependent incorporation of [(14)C]methyl group inhibited 68% of the [(14)C]UMP incorporation. 6. The incorporation of [(14)C]UMP by nuclei from starved animals decreased progressively with increasing periods of starvation, whereas the triphosphate-dependent [(14)C]methyl-group incorporation was not further decreased after 1 day of starvation. 7. This suggests that precursor rRNA synthesis decreased within 1 day whereas other species of RNA were affected only after longer periods of starvation.

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PubMed1970

Decreased ribonucleic acid synthesis in isolated rat liver nuclei during starvation.

1. Isolated nuclei from starved rats showed a lowered incorporation of [(14)C]UMP into RNA. 2. The Mg(2+)-dependent incorporation was decreased by 30% after 1 day of starvation, but incorporation in the presence of Mn(2+) and ammonium sulphate decreased only after longer periods of starvation. 3. RNA synthesis by nuclei in the presence of excess of added RNA polymerase was unchanged after 1 day of starvation and was inhibited by 20% after 4 days. 4. The capacity of nuclei to bind actinomycin D was unchanged after 1 day and was decreased by 20% after 4 days of starvation.

Animals↗