Effects of estradiol-17beta in the male Xenopus laevis: isolation and translation of cytoplasmic messenger RNA populations.

Total Xenopus liver cytoplasmic RNA isolated following long-term estrogen administration (14 days) was fractioned using Sepharose 4B chromatography. One of the Sepharose 4B peaks was shown to contain RNA with a molecular weight reported for vitellogenin mRNA (approximately 34S). The presence of estrogen-induced vitellogenin mRNA in the peak 5 RNA was determined by translation of the RNA in the oocyte and analysis of the oocyte translational products by immunoprecipitation with anti-vitellogenin. Sepharose 4B peaks 2 and 3 were also observed to contain estrogen induced mRNA populations sedimenting between 9--18S. These findings suggest that Sepharose 4B chromatography might prove useful in separating different mRNA populations following estrogen-induced gene activation.