The utilization of genes for ribosomal RNA, 5S RNA, and transfer RNA in liver cells of adult rats.

The rates of synthesis of ribosomes, 5S RNA, and tRNA necessary to maintain the steady-state concentrations of these entities in liver cytoplasm of adult rats were determined. On the average, each liver cell in the adult rat synthesizes 650 ribosomes, 650 molecules of 5S RNA, and 11,000 molecules of tRNA each minute. The numbers of genes per liver cell for rRNA, 5S RNA, and tRNA were 330, 1660, and 13,000, respectively, as determined by RNA: DNA hybridization experiments. Thus, on the average, individual genes for rRNA, tRNA, and 5S RNA are transcribed twice a minute, once a minute, and once every 2.5 minutes, respectively, in the adult rat liver.