An Electrophoretic Analysis of RNA Synthesis in Normal and Lobeless Ilyanassa Embryo

RNA from pulse-labelled normal and lobeless Ilyanassa embryos was analysed by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels. The proportional distribution of radioactivity among the RNAs made by these two types of embryos was compared statistically. It was shown that removal of the third polar lobe from the Ilyanassa egg at first cleavage did not produce any change in the proportion of several size classes of RNA transcribed during the first day of development. The post-gastrular lobeless embryo did show a significant deviation from the normal pattern of RNA synthesis, though it is not clear that this was a direct effect on transcription by the polar lobe cytoplasm.