The incorporation of tritium from thymidine into proteins of the mouse.

Tritium from methyl-H(3)-thymidine was found to be incorporated into proteins in mice. This incorporation in the mouse as a whole represented between 1 and 10% of the injected tritium. Tritiated water was not an intermediate. Transmethylation reactions are proposed as a means whereby certain amino acids might have acquired the tritium from thymidine at some stage of its catabolism. The initial (2 hr) ratios of DNA to protein tritium activities per milligram of wet tissue ranged from 5 in two tissues of low DNA synthetic activity (pancreas, liver) to 35 to 40 in two tissues of high DNA synthetic activity (spleen, small intestine). Labeled nuclear protein was coincident with labeled DNA in nuclei, where it constituted less than 2.5% of the total tritium. The significance of the findings is discussed.