Phosphate incorporation into secretory protein of Chironomus salivary glands occurs during translation.

The Balbiani rings (BR) in Chironomus salivary gland cells code for giant secretory proteins, the sp-I family. During normal growth conditions the phosphorylated proteins sp-Ia and sp-Ib are formed with most phosphate present as phosphoserine. We can show that most if not all incorporation of P into sp-I occurs in parallel with the incorporation of [S]-methionine in the giant polysomes that form sp-I and contain BR-derived mRNA. We suggest that the main function of phosphorylation of sp-Ia and sp-Ib is to provide charge neutralization of an excess of lysine and arginine residues and is therefore required during early stages of protein folding. This view is supported by the previous observation that glutamic (and aspartic) acid largely substitute for phosphoserine in a non-phosphorylated member of the sp-I family, sp-Ic, which is produced during phosphate starvation.