Postmaturational cleavage of 23s ribosomal ribonucleic acid and its metabolic control in the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans.

Data are presented consistent with the notion that the 23s ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) of Anacystis nidulans undergoes specific endonucleolytic cleavage in vivo, to produce two fragments with molecular weights of 0.88 x 10(6) and 0.17 x 10(6) daltons. Cleavage occurred at random after 23s rRNA formation and was stimulated by light in this organism, an obligately photoautotrophic unicellular blue-green alga. The half-life of intact 23s rRNA was about 5 h in illuminated cultures and 10 h in unilluminated cultures. 3-(p-Chlorophenyl)-1, 1-dimethylurea, an inhibitor of photosystem II, retarded 23s rRNA cleavage in the light. The results are discussed in the context of recent reports of rRNA instability in a variety of eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.