Absence of gamma-actin expression in the mouse fibroblast cell line, L.

Cytoplasmic isoactins of mouse fibroblast L-cells were examined by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. In contrast to other cultured cell lines, which contain both beta- and gamma-actin, L-cells contained only beta-actin species. This unique phenomenon was due neither to the transformed status of this cell line nor to the characteristic nature of adipose tissue fibroblasts of C3H mice. When RNA of L-cells was translated in a nuclease-treated reticulocyte lysate system, actin synthesized in vitro also appeared as only one species, beta-actin. Therefore, the genetic information for gamma-actin is absent at the level of translatable mRNA in L-cells.