Site of Protein Synthesis in the Hen Oviduct

IN a series of papers on the incorporation of amino-acids by the hen oviduct in vitro , Hendler has found that material derived from the endoplasmic reticulum, which in other tissues is recovered from homogenates by centrifuging at 105,000 g for 60 min, is in this tissue to be found, together with nuclei, mitochondria and unbroken cells, in the fraction sedimenting at 600 g for 10 min 1–4 . He has also proposed that amino-acid lipid complexes are intermediates in the synthesis of proteins 5 . In order to examine the process of incorporation in more detail in this tissue, it will be necessary to separate the material derived from the endoplasmic reticulum from the remainder of the cell fractions. This communication contains preliminary evidence to indicate that this may be possible.