Postmitochondrial supernatants were prepared from the livers of chick embryos and were incubated under conditions that supported protein synthesis. delta-Aminolaevulinate synthase (EC 2.3.1.37) was synthesized by supernatants from livers treated with the porphyrinogenic drugs 2-allyl-2-isopropylacetamide and/or 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine, but synthesis by supernatants from normal livers could not be detected. Synthesis of enzyme released from polyribosomes was measured by immunoprecipitation with specific antibody to the mitochondrial enzyme, and the specificity of the reaction was established by electrophoresis of dissociated immunoprecipitates on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gels. 2. The relative synthesis of delta-aminolaevulinate synthase in vitro was comparable with that previously measured in vivo, and was correlated with the enzyme activity of the liver. 3. Enzyme synthesis in vitro occurred predominantly on free rather than membrane-bound polyribosomes. 4. The mol.wt. of the product synthesized in vitro was 7000 +/- 7000 by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. However, pulse-labelling of the enzyme in vivo confirmed its mol.wt. to be 49000 +/- 5000 when isolated from the mitochondrion. A small amount of immunoprecipitable enzyme of mol.wt. 70000 was detected in the cytosol in vivo. In chick embryo liver, delta-aminolaevulinate synthase therefore appears to be synthesized on cytoplasmic polyribosomes as a polypeptide of mol.wt. 70000, which in vivo is rapidly incorporated into the mitochondrion, and is then extracted as a lower-molecular-weight form. 5. Haemin added to the postmitochondrial supernatant-containing incubation mixture at concentrations up to 10 muM had no effect on general protein synthesis or the synthesis of delta-aminolaevulinate synthase. On the other hand, haemin treatment of induced chick embryo livers in vivo for 3h markedly decreased the relative synthesis of delta-aminolaevulinate synthase in vitro. These results suggest that haemin represses the synthesis of delta-aminolaevulinate synthase by decreasing the amount of mRNA for the enzyme available for translation.
