Characterization of the steady-state population of the poly(adenylic acid) sequences in a rat hepatoma and in normal liver.

In steady state conditions, the content and size distribution of the poly(A) segments obtained by nuclease digestion of the total RNA from normal liver and a fast growing hepatoma (H 3924 A) are different. Evidence is presented for: an increase of the amount of poly(A) in the hepatoma; a more heterogeneous sedimentation profile of the poly(A) extracted from hepatoma, for the presence of segments of larger size; a different distribution pattern of the poly(A) associated to messengers of various size in the two tissues. These findings suggest an enhanced stability of the poly(A) sequences in the hepatoma, probably correlated to a reduced utilization of its messengers.