Ribonucleic acid synthesis and transport in animal cells at 27 degrees C

The failure to induce glutamine synthetase in retinal cells with hydrocortisone at 27 degrees C (37 degrees C is the normal temperature for induction) led to a study of some aspects of RNA synthesis at 27 degrees C by using the method of selective labelling with radioactive precursors, sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation and radioautography. The low-temperature treatment not only decreases the rate of RNA synthesis but also interferes with the general pattern of RNA maturation and distribution. It has been found that nuclear-cytoplasmic exchange is severely altered at low temperature and may be an explanation of the failure to induce the enzyme. When the temperature is raised from 27 degrees C to 37 degrees C, the incorporation of exogenous radioactive uridine into the RNA is distorted by a pool-dilution effect that results in an ;over-shoot' phenomenon. The kinetics of labelled uridine equilibration into the UMP pool accounts for the difficulty encountered by many investigators in ;chase' efforts with unlabelled nucleosides.