STIMULATION OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN VITRO BY DENATURED DNA

Abstract

Denatured DNA from cultured HeLa cells and mouse L cells greatly stimulated amino acid incorporation into polypeptides by an E. coli cell-free extract in vitro. Denatured DNA from other sources failed to exhibit this effect. This stimulation differs in several respects from previously reported systems in which native DNA stimulated polypeptide synthesis indirectly by acting as a template for RNA synthesis. These HeLa cell and L cell DNA''s have the apparent characteristics of template material, although an indirect effect effect involving RNA synthesis cannot be rigorously excluded by the evidence thus far obtained.