Ribonucleic acid and the formation of amylase in cell free preparations from pigeon pancreas

Abstract 1. 1. The transfer of radioactivity from [ 14 C] precursor protein into amylase enzyme protein in a pancreas extract depends upon the presence of adenosinetriphosphate, arginine and threonine; it is abolished if ribonuclease is added. 2. 2. The transformation of the precursor protein into amylase has been separated into two processes. In the first, a fraction of the RNA of the pancreas is changed into a specific RNA. This process requires ATP, arginine and threonine and is not inhibited by chloramphenicol. The second process, which is inhibited by chloramphenicol, requires only the specific RNA and a pancreas extract and leads to the formation of amylase. 3. 3. The RNA which has this specific action is formed only from the RNA of the larger cytoplasmic granules (mitochondria etc.), the soluble and the microsomal RNA being inactive in this reaction.