Abstract
Summary
Liver homogenates preincubated with RNAse, in contrast to controls, do not incorporate mevalonic acid into non-saponifiable material or cholesterol. This inactivation by RNAse is preventable or reversible with an autoclaved extract of liver or with certain anionic polymers including polyethylene sulfonate, heparin, DNA and even RNA. The polymers also inactivate RNAse in vitro at comparable ratios of inhibitor to enzyme used in the biosynthetic experiments. Inactivation of RNAse in vitro is not observed, however, with comparatively high levels of liver extract. It is concluded that liver extract does not function in the homogenate system merely by inactivation of RNAse but this interpretation may be applicable to the anionic polymers.
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