The rate of synthesis of histone mRNA during the development of sea urchin embryos (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus).

Abstract The rates of synthesis of the mRNA molecules coding for histones of sea urchin embryos were determined. At different stages during the early development of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus , embryos were labeled for brief periods with a radioactive nucleoside. The specific activity of the precursor nucleoside triphosphate pool was measured, and the accumulation of radioactivity into histone mRNA molecules was monitored by separation of the RNA on polyacrylamide gels. The rate of histone mRNA synthesis was found to increase dramatically after the 16-cell stage, reaching a value of 80 × 10 −15 g/min/embryo at about the 128-cell stage and gradually declining to a value of 12 × 10 −15 g/min/embryo at the 300-cell stage. The maximal accumulation rates require that histone genes be transcribed at least once per minute.

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