Regulation of RNA synthesis in Tetrahymena pyriformis: secretion of regulatory factors.

The rate of ribosomal RNA synthesis varies greatly with the population density in both exponentially and synchronously growing populations of Tetrahymena pyriformis. Shortly after inoculation of the population - at relatively low cell densities - a gene-dose effect dominates the picture, and a doubling in the gene number is immediately followed by a doubling in the rate of RNA synthesis. However, also other mechanisms are controlling the rate of RNA synthesis. Generally one finds high rates of RNA synthesis in the lag phase of newly inoculated cells, decreasing rate of RNA synthesis during most of the exponential growth phase and very low rate of synthesis in stationary phase cells. We now have results which show that the repression of RNA synthesis in densely populated cultures is caused by a dialysable factor, which is secreted by the cells. If cells are inoculated on a medium which contains this factor the high initial rate of RNA synthesis normally observed is prevented, but the cells multiply and grow with normal generation time until normal stationary-phase population densities are reached.