Regulation of the synthesis of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase and its subunits in the flagellate Chlorogonium elongatum. Different levels of translatable messenger RNAs for the large and the small subunits in autotrophic and heterotrophic cells as determined by immunological techniques.

Poly(A)-rich and poly(A)-free RNAs were isolated from autotrophic and heterotrophic cells of the phytoflagellate Chlorogonium elongatum and translated in an mRNA-depleted reticulocyte lysate system. Immunoprecipitation methods were improved to detect large and small subunits of the chloroplast enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase synthesized in vitro. Large-subunit polypeptides were shown to be the translation products of poly(A)-free RNA having the same molecular weight as large subunits made in vivo. Small-subunit polypeptides were synthesized when poly(A)-rich RNA was used as a template. They were made in vitro as a precursor, with an Mr about 6000 larger than mature small subunits. Cells growing heterotrophically in the dark with acetate are provided with lower levels of mRNA activities for the large and the small subunits is at least partially controlled by the amounts of translatable mRNAs.