Primary induction of vitellogenin mRNA in the rooster by 17beta-estradiol.

Abstract

The kinetics of vitellogenin mRNA accumulation were studied in rooster liver after a primary injection of 17.beta.-estradiol. The levels of vitellogenin mRNA were determined both by hybridization of total cellular RNA to vitellogenin cDNA and by translation of vitellogenin mRNA in a wheat germ cell-free system. The results obtained by both methods of analysis are in good agreement and indicate that vitellogenin mRNA is present in the liver of normal roosters at a level of 0-5 molecules per liver cell and increases in amount during the 3 days following injection of estrogen, reaching a level of almost 6000 molecules/cell at the peak of the response. The level of vitellogenin mRNA declined exponentially during the next 14 days with a half-life of 29 h, reaching a level of less than 10 molecules/cell at 17 days after injection of the hormone. The levels of vitellogenin mRNA after stimulation with estrogen were correlated with the in vivo rate of synthesis of the vitellogenin polypeptide. The rate of vitellogenin synthesis is closely correlated with the level of vitellogenin mRNA. Vitellogenin mRNA does not exist in the liver in an untranslated form after withdrawal from estrogen.