Rapidly labeled polydispersed nuclear RNA is part of a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) network which in turn is tightly bound to the nuclear membrane. The membranous attachment, therefore, established a connection between chromatin and cytoplasm. The ultrastructure of the RNP network comprises fibrils and granules similar to those observed in intact nuclei. When bound to the nuclear membrane it has the composition of 63% protein, 14% RNA, 0.4% DNA, and 22.6% lipids. The proportion of lipids diminishes to 2.2% when nuclear membrane is not present. Chromatin, nucleoli, and ribosomes are minor contaminants since histones and ribosomal proteins are not detectable in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Nuclear disruption at high pressure in a French pressure cell causes fragmentation of the RNP network into a series of polydispersed RNP particles. Fragmentation can be prevented by using mild pressure, or by disrupting nuclei with high salt buffer and digesting the dispersed chromatin with deoxyribonuclease. A RNP network, almost free of membrane, is also obtained if the nucleus is deprived of its envelope by treatment with Triton X-100. Since no polydispersed RNP particles are found following dissolution of the nuclear membrane, it is assumed that the particles are components of the RNP network whose fragmentation occurs as a consequence of two processes: (a) activation of nuclear nucleases and (b) shearing forces.

A thermosensitive conditional yeast mutant (ts-187) which suppresses protein synthesis at the nonpermissive temperature (36 degrees C) also suppresses RNA synthesis. The effect of temperature on the mutant is similar to the addition of cycloheximide--it inhibits the incorporation of labeled precursors into RNA in both whole cells and isolated nuclei. The effect of temperature is selective for the RNA polymerases bound to the nuclear template but not for the total RNA polymerases. Thus, the specific activities and total amounts of RNA polymerase species extracted and assayed with exogenous DNA template are similar in the ts-187 cultured at 23 degrees C and at 36 degrees C. On the contrary, the nuclear polymerases, i.e., RNA synthesis in isolated nuclei, are dramatically inhibited in cells cultured at 36 degrees C. When amino acid starved ts-187 cells are transferred to 36 degrees C, release from the inhibtion of RNA synthesis is observed. As with the addition of cycloheximide, this relaxation is observed in cells but not in isolated nuclei. The parental strain, A364A, which responds by stimulating instead of inhibiting protein synthesis when the temperature is increased to 36 degrees C, also exhibits an inhibition in the incorporation of labeled precursor into RNA as well as reducing RNA synthesis in isolated nuclei. However, these are transitory inhibitions and afterward there is reinitiation of both processes. Reinitiation of RNA synthesis in isolated nuclei is similar to the relaxed phenomenon and it is called "nuclear relaxation". This relaxation can only be obtained if protein synthesis is not inhibited; however, cellular relaxation occurs in the absence of protein synthesis. The repression of the nuclear RNA polymerase activities which starvation and inhibition of protein synthesis produce appears to be due to a restriction in the nuclear DNA template. This notion is supported by the fact that a net diminution of these nuclear enzyme activities is observed in spheroplasts cultured under starving conditions. Studies of the four main ribonucleotide pools indicate that stringency and inhibition of protein synthesis (ts-187 cultured at 36 degrees C) produce an increase in UTP and CTP pools. This is consistent with the concept that stringency and inhibition of protein synthesis affect the rate of utilization rather than the synthesis of these ribonucleotide residues. In the A364A and ts-187 yeast strains, the conversion of uracil but not of uridine into the UTP and CTP is inhibited when there is inhibition of the nuclear RNA polymerases. This indicates that the uracil phosphoribosyltransferase but not the uridine-cytidine kinase is allosterically inhibited by UTP and CTP in yeast. The feedback inhibition in the metabolic pathway of the base explains why relaxation cannot be detected when uracil instead of uridine is used as the labeled RNA precursor.

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