The initiation and elongation steps in protein synthesis: relative rates in Chinese hamster ovary cells during and after hyperthermic and hypothermic shocks.

The relative rates of the initiation and elongation phases of protein synthesis have been determined in heat- and cold-shocked CHO cells from measurements of the incorporation of 35S-methionine into N-terminal and internal positions of growing peptides by a modified Edman degradation. When the cells are shifted from 37 degrees C to temperatures between 10 degrees C and 34 degrees C, the rate of initiation is at first reduced more extensively than that of elongation. After 20 to 30 minutes at the lower temperature, however, the cells undergo a metabolic adjustment which includes increasing the rate of initiation until it corresponds to the rate of elongation at that temperature. Calculated apparent energies of activation for initiation and elongation are in reasonable agreement with those determined in other mammalian cells. When the cooled cells are returned to 37 degrees C, the rates of initiation and elongation recover immediately but do not exceed the control values. Exposure to elevated temperatures (43 degrees C) causes an immediate cessation of initiation and thus a delayed inhibition of elongation; upon return to 37 degrees C, the rate of initiation is transiently elevated above the control rate, and the rate of elongation returns to the control rate after a 2- to 3-minute delay. Hence, a factor which leads to supranormal rates of initiation may accumulate at high but not at low temperatures.