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RNA synthesis in starfish embryos: developmental consequences of its inhibition by formycin

https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-4781(89)90157-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Embryos of the starfish Asterina pectinifera were examined with regard to their ability to undergo the early events of embryonic development in the presence of formycin, an analogue of adenosine and a reported inhibitor of RNA synthesis. It was shown that in normal embryos the pool of ribonucleoside 5′-triphosphates increased during the period of blastula formation. The increase of the UTP pool was blocked nearly completely by 25 μg/ml formycin, and that of the CTP pool was inhibited partially by the same concentration of the drug. On the other hand, the pools of ATP and GTP were the same for both control and formycin-treated embryos. The development of embryos cultured in the presence of 25 μg/ml formycin stopped at the early blastula stage. Addition of 100 μg/ml each of uridine and cytidine to cultures of embryos that had been placed in 25 μg/ml formycin at the onset of blastulation allowed gastrulation to occur, suggesting that the developmental arrest produced by formycin is due primarily to the inhibition of pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis.

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