Cyclic changes in enzyme activity in synchronized mammalian cell cultures.

Activity of the enzymes glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase increases intermittently in synchronized cultures of Chinese hamster cells. During G(1) phase (3 hours after mitosis), midway through S phase (7 hours after mitosis) and again in late S phase (10 hours after mitosis), rapid increases in activity were observed and correlated with a net increase in cell size and total protein. The evidence suggests that this is a general phenomenon which affects a whole population of proteins and may be the expression of an endogenous cellular rhythm.