Developmental fall in whole body protein turnover of chick embryos during incubation

1. Whole body protein turnover was measured in chick embryos during incubation to investigate whether or not there is a fall in fractional rates of protein synthesis and degradation during development.2. Stable isotopically labelled [15N]phenylalanine was injected intra-peritoneally into embryos on days 12 and 19. From 60 to 90 min after injection the isotope enrichment in free and protein-bound phenylalanine was measured with a selected-ion gas-chromatograph mass-spectrometer.3. The results showed that from days 12 to 19 of incubation, there was a remarkable reduction in fractional rates of protein synthesis and degradation in the whole body of chick embryos.4. During embryonic growth, protein synthesis per unit of RNA that is, the minimum amino acid translation rate of RNA, did not change significantly, whereas the RNA: protein ratio was reduced to one-third from days 12 to 19 of incubation.5. It was concluded, therefore, that the dramatic fall in fractional synthesis rate in chick embryos would be entirely attributable to the rapid increase in protein content, thereby changing the RNA: protein ratio in parallel with the fractional synthesis rate.