LONG-LIVED MESSENGER RNA: EVIDENCE FROM COTTON SEED GERMINATION.

In germinating cotton embryos the partial inhibition of RNA synthesis by actinomycin D does not inhibit the incorporation of leucine-(14)C into soluble protein nor cause a loss of polyribosomes during the first 16 hours of germination. This suggests that the protein synthesis observed during this period is directed by messenger RNA which exists in the mature seed and which is not rapidly degraded and resynthesized.