Intracellular pH and the increase in protein synthesis accompanying activation of Xenopus eggs

Metabolic activation following egg fertilization corresponds to an increase in protein synthesis and the initiation of DNA synthesis, which lead to cell division and development of the embryo. Since in several biological systems protein synthesis is regulated by intracellular pH (pHi), we have decided to investigate the situation during Xenopus egg activation. We confirmed that egg activation is accompanied by a pHi rise of 0.3 pH unit. Measurements of the rates of protein synthesis is unactivated and activated eggs, after microinjection of 3H-leucine, demonstrated that activation was followed by a 2.5-fold increase. Treatment of unactivated eggs with weak bases also increased pHi, but did not result in an increase in the rate of protein synthesis. Moreover, in vitro translation in cytoplasmic extracts was found to be pH-independent, at least between 6.8 and 8.2.