CENTRIFUGATION DOES NOT ALTER SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF BEP4 MESSENGER-RNA IN PARACENTROTUS-LIVIDUS EGG

Paracentrotus lividus unfertilized eggs were centrifuged in a sucrose gradient, so to split each into two parts: a nucleated light fragment and an anucleated heavy fragment. Northern blot analyses utilizing a b ep4 probe as animal marker and H2A histone gene and 12S-mit RNA as con trols indicate that the eggs are elongated along the animal-vegetal ax is during centrifugation and thereafter split into an animal and a veg etal half, Treatment of the eggs with colchicine before centrifugation abolishes the animal localization of bep4 mRNA. (C) 1997 Federation o f European Biochemical Societies.