Properties of RNA from Giant Axons of the Crayfish

Anderson, E., A. Edstrom and J. Jarlstedt. Properties of RNA from giant axons of the crayfish. Acta physiol. scand. 1969. 1970. 78. 491–502. The presence of axonal RNA was demonstrated in giant nerve fibres of the crayfish Procam‐burus clarkii, using ultramicrochemical and radioautographic procedures. The RNA content, composition and synthesis was compared to that of enveloping Schwann sheaths and ganglionic nerve cell bodies. The following results were obtained. The RNA concentration (w/v) in the axoplasm is about 0.02 % as compared to 0.22 % in Schwann sheaths and 5.7 % in nerve cell bodies. In spite of its low concentration, the axonal RNA constitutes an amount several times larger than that of the nerve cell body. The bulk of axonal RNA is likely to have an extra‐mitochondrial localization. Its base composition, which is DNA‐like, differs distinctly from RNA of nerve cell bodies. Axonal RNA is synthesized independently of the cell body. The possibility that axonal RNA, at least in part, is synthesized in surrounding Schwann cells and transferred to the axon, is considered.