Analysis of the ribosomes engaged in the synthesis of the outer membrane proteins of Escherichia coli.

The messenger RNAs for the outer membrane proteins in E. coli are more stable than the bulk of the messenger RNA s (Hirashima et al., 1973). Polysomes, enriched in those containing stable mRNAs have been isolated following rifampicin treatment and have been shown to contain quantitatively the same complement of ribosomal protein as normal polysomes. There is one exception: ribosomal protein S1 is present in larger amounts in the polysomes containing stable messengers. However, there are grounds for believing this finding to be an artifact. It is concluded that the differences between outer membrane protein synthesis and bulk protein synthesis are not due to a difference in the ribosomes.