The Translation in vitro of mRNA from Developing Cysts of Artemia salina

Abstract

Successive stages in the development of the brine shrimp cyst were used as a model for studying differentiation at the level of mRNA transcription and translation. The poly(A)-containing mRNA from dormant cysts and free-swimming larvae (nauplii) was efficiently translated in a wheat-germ cell-free system, and electrophoretic patterns of translation products in vitro resembled those of the endogenous proteins extracted from the equivalent developmental stages. Each stage, exhibited a characteristic protein pattern. Two low-molecular-weight proteins prominent in the cyst disappeared almost completely in the nauplius stage, whereas the proportion of actin increased 3-fold. Parallel patterns were observed upon translation in vitro of the respective in mRNA preparations. The percentage of the acidic protein, tubulin, decreased somewhat during development.