Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Major mRNA species from spinach chloroplasts do not contain poly(A)

Abstract

POLY(A) is a constituent of most animal cytoplasmic mRNAs1,2 and has been demonstrated in rapidly-labelled, polysomal RNA in plants3,4. Verma et al.5 have shown that cellulase mRNA, isolated from auxin-treated pea epicotyls, contains poly(A). Although a significant proportion of eukaryotic polysomal mRNAs are known to lack poly(A)6–8, the presence of poly(A) is still regarded as a characteristic feature of unfractionated preparations of eukaryotic mRNA. By contrast, poly(A) has not been detected in mRNA from prokaryotic cells8. Several reports9–11 have indicated that poly(A) is present in HeLa cell mitochondrial RNA, although Groot et al.12 were unable to detect poly(A) in yeast mitochondrial RNA. Here we describe experiments in which we have assayed for the presence of poly(A) in spinach chloroplast RNA by two methods; (1) hybridisation of chloroplast RNA with 3H-poly(U) and (2) binding of chloroplast RNA, pulse-labelled in vivo, to oligo(dT) cellulose. Additionally, the mRNA activities of chloroplast poly(A)-containing RNA and non-poly(A)-containing RNA (hereafter referred to as poly(A)+ RNA and poly(A) RNA respectively) have been investigated by measuring their translation into specific polypeptides in cell-free extracts from Escherichia coli. From the results, we conclude that chloroplast mRNA lacks poly (A).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lee, Y., Mendecki, J., and Bawerman, G., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 68, 1331–1335 (1971).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Edmonds, M. P., Vaughan, M. H., and Nakazato, H., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 68, 1336–1340 (1971).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Higgins, T. J. V., Mercer, J. F. B., and Goodwin, P. B., Nature new Biol., 246, 68–69 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sagher, D., Edelman, M., and Jacob, K. M., Biochim. biophys. Acta, 349, 32–38 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Verma, D. P. S., Machlachlan, G. A., Byrne, H., and Ewings, D., J. biol. Chem., 250, 1019–1026 (1975).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Adesnik, M., and Darnell, J. E., J. molec. Biol., 67, 397–406 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nemer, M., Graham, M., and Dulroff, L. M., J. molec. Biol., 89, 435–454 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Perry, R. P., Kelley, D. E., and La Torre, J., Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun., 48, 1593–1600 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Perlman, S., Abelson, H. T., and Penman, S., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 70, 350–353 (1973).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hirsch, M., and Penman, S., J. molec. Biol., 80, 379–391 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ojala, D., and Attardi, G., J. molec. Biol., 82, 151–174 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Groot, G. S. P., Flavell, R. A., Van Ommen, G. J. B., and Grivell, L. A., Nature, 252, 167–169 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Gillespie, D., Marshall, S., and Gallo, R. C., Nature new Biol., 236, 227–231 (1971).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hartley, M. R., and Ellis, R. J., Biochem. J., 134, 249–262 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Hartley, M. R., Wheeler, A., and Ellis, R. J., J. molec. Biol., 91, 67–77 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Eaton, M. A. W., and Hutchinson, D. W., Biochemistry, 11, 3162–3167 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Avery, R. J., thesis, Univ. Newcastle (1969).

  18. Clegg, J. C. S., and Kennedy, S. I. T., J. gen. Virol., 22, 331–345 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Williamson, R., Crosley, J., and Humphries, S., Biochemistry, 13, 702–707 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Munoz, R. F., and Darnell, J. E., Cell, 2, 247–252 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

WHEELER, A., HARTLEY, M. Major mRNA species from spinach chloroplasts do not contain poly(A). Nature 257, 66–67 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257066a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257066a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing