Effects of protein deficiency on the biosynthesis and degradation of ribosomal RNA in rat liver.

Employing livers from rats fed on a protein-free diet for two weeks, the effects of protein deficiency on both biosynthesis and degradation of rRNA were investigated and the following results were obtained. 1. Protein deficiency led to a decrease of total liver RNA content per DNA to about 80% of that in normal rat liver. 2. From the kinetics of rRNA labelling with [14C]orotic acid in vivo, the half-lives of cytoplasmic rRNA's of normal and protein-deficient rat livers were determined to be 6.2 and 5.1 days, respectively. Furthermore, considering the pool size of rRNA in rat liver, the turnover rate of cytoplasmic rRNA was calculated to be 0.212 pmole/min/mg of nuclear DNA in normal rats and 0.240 pmole/min/mg of nuclear DNA in protein-deficient rats. 3. From the electrophoretic patterns of nucleolar RNA's of both groups of rat livers labeled with [14C]orotic acid, the time courses of the specific activities of nucleolar 45S, 32S, and 28S rRNA's were analysed and the half-life of each nucleolar RNA in both groups of rat livers was determined. Nucleolar 45S, 32S, and 28S RNA's had half-lives of 6.0, 15.9, and 26.5 min in normal rats, respectively, and 5.5, 19.4, and 22.9 min in protein-deficient rats, respectively Considering the pool size of each nucleolar RNA obtained from the leectrophoretic pattern, the turnover rates of 45S, 32S, and 28S RNA's were calculated to be the same, i.e., o.189 pmoles/min/mg of nuclear DNA, in normal rat liver and 0.372, 0.372, and 0.358 pmoles/min/mg of nuclear DNA in protein-deficient rat liver, respectively. 4. These results indicate that protein deficiency increased both the rate of degradation of cytoplasmic rRNA and that of nucleolar rRNA synthesis in rat liver. While in normal rat liver the rates of rRNA synthesis and degradation were rather similar, the rate of rRNA synthesis in protein-deficient rats was about 1.5 times higher than that of its degradation. Therefore, the decrease of total liver RNA content in protein deficiency might be accounted for by stimulated degradation of rRNA in the nucleus. 5. The activities of RNase in nuclear fractions of both groups of rat livers were compared. Both activities of nuclear acid RNase and especially that of the free form of alkaline RNase in protein-deficient rat liver were higher than those in normal rat liver.