Nucleic acid and protein differences in Volvox carteri cell types.

Nucleic acids in Volvox carteri have different radioactive labelling patterns in the two cell types, reproductive (gonidia) and somatic. Incorporation of 32P into DNA is maximum during gonidial division in both whole spheroids and isolated somatic and reproductive cells. The most active period of radioactive incorporation into the rRNA of gonidia and somatic cells is during spheroid enlargement, after which the terminally differentiated somatic cells show a steady, continuous decline. Incorporation into the gonidial rRNA declines markedly during late stages of gonidial division but increases during daughter spheroid growth. Polyarylamide gel electrophoresis profiles of cellular proteins are distinctive for spheroids at different developmental stages and also for the isolated cell types.