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Translation of total mRNA in heterologous protein-synthesizing systems is often employed as an indirect means of assessing relative mRNA concentrations. However, it is well known that the efficiency of translation of specific mRNAs differs. One such example is the poor translational efficiency of conalbumin mRNA relative to ovalbumin mRNA. In this report we have studied the translation of conalbumin and ovalbumin mRNAs in crude mRNA preparations and with highly purified mRNA preparations. We find that treatment of RNA with methylmercury hydroxide prior to translation improves the translational efficiency of both mRNAs and preferentially improves translational efficiency of conalbumin mRNA to the point where it more correctly reflects the relative concentration of these two mRNAs in crude mRNA preparations. Conalbumin mRNA is also a poor template for the synthesis of full length cDNA synthesis by avian myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase, and treatment of this mRNA with methylmercury hydroxide increases the size of DNA sequences synthesized. We conclude that treatment with methylmercury hydroxide produces a partial denaturation of mRNA complexed with either itself or with other RNA molecules and results in more efficient utilization in both translational assays and DNA polymerization reactions.
Payvar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.