The development patterns of lysosomal enzyme activities during Ca2+-induced sporangium formation in Achyla bisexualis. III. Ribonucleases.

The present paper describes intracellular changes in ribonuclease specific activity during Ca2+-induced sporangium formation in the water mold Achyla bisexualis. The enzymes undergo a decrease in activity prior to crosswall formation followed by an increase in activity during spore cleavage. As spore discharge occurs the RNase activity again decreases. A large percentage of the nuclease activity is associated with a lysosomal-like fraction of the cell, but there is also considerably activity associated with nuclear and microsomal fractions. Addition of cycloheximide or actinomycin D at various times during development prevents further decrease or increase in the enzyme activity. Mixing of cell extracts from different developmental stages provides evidence that inhibitors or activators of the enzyme activity are not responsible for the activity levels evident at the different stages. There is a change in the total levels of presumptive mRNA during Ca2+-induced sporangial formation which appears to be associated with the patterns of RNase activity. Utilizing total cellular RNA and Poly(A)+ RNA with the crude ribonuclease preparations, no substrate specificity could be ascertained.