Female rats have been employed for a study of the reactivity of zinc ions on RNA and protein biosynthesis of liver nuclei. Intraperitoneal injections of 20 μmoles of this metal ion have been found to stimulate RNA biosynthesis up to 80% and a 40% increase of protein synthesis was observed under the same conditions. The precursor for RNA synthesis was [6-14C] -orotic acid and [l-14C]-ᴅʟ-leucine served as a label for nuclear protein. Low Zn2®-concentrations showed no reactivity, even when zinc-deficient rats were used.
DNA-dependent RNA-polymerase activity was progressively diminished when increasing amounts of Zn2⊕-ions were added in vitro to the incubation mixtures. However, RNA-polymerase activity was strongly stimulated following a 10 h pulse of Zn2® prior to the isolation of liver nuclei.
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