Regulation and expression of carbamyl phosphate synthetase I mRNA in developing rat liver and Morris hepatoma 5123D.

A cDNA clone complementary to mRNA encoding the precursor (Mr = 165,000) to the rat liver mitochondrial matrix enzyme carbamyl phosphate synthetase I (Mr = 160,000) was employed to compare relative amounts of the messenger in adult and fetal liver and in Morris hepatoma 5123D and 3924A cells. Northern blot analysis gave a size estimate for the messenger of 6,500-6,700 nucleotides. Carbamyl phosphate synthetase mRNA levels in 15-day-old fetal liver were less than 10% of adult levels; 5123D cells expressed the messenger at levels about 2-fold higher than normal adult liver, but the messenger was undetectable in 3924A cells. Albumin mRNA was also expressed in the former but not in the latter. Maintaining rats for 5 days on a diet containing 60% casein augmented the relative amount of carbamyl phosphate synthetase mRNA by about 2-fold, while a protein-free diet resulted in reduced levels of the mRNA (about 50% compared to animals on a normal diet). Finally, the pattern of hybridization of carbamyl phosphate synthetase cDNA to HindIII-digested genomic DNA showed no differences between normal liver and its corresponding hepatoma; however, a HindIII site polymorphism was observed between Buffalo and ACI rats.