Comparative effect of farnesylacetone on macromolecular synthesis in gonads of crustaceans.

Farnesylacetone, a molecule isolated from the androgenic glands of Carcinus maenas, inhibits vitellogenesis in the ovaries. Here the effect of farnesylacetone on protein and RNA synthesis in cultured organs is described. Both leucine and uridine incorporation in ovaries were inhibited with low concentration of farnesylacetone. The action was gonad specific and not species specific. It was observable in the presence of cycloheximide but not in the presence of actinomycin. This result plus the fact that inhibition of protein synthesis paralleled that of RNA suggest that farnesylacetone modifies transcription and only indirectly affects protein synthesis.