Protein degradation during the differentiation of eukaryotic cells: studies on the sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and on the formation of the neuromuscular junction in the chick embryo.

The role of protein degradation in cell and tissue differentiation has been investigated during the sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and during endplate formation in developing avian muscle. The results suggest that a variety of proteolytic processes as enzyme inactivation, degradation of mitochondrial membrane constituents and removal of embryonic cell surface proteins exert stringent controls over the sequence of differentiation in eukaryotic cells.