Expression du génome chez les hybrides interspécifiques.

The interspecific hybrid Arbacia lixula ... × Paracentrotus lividus ... which stops developing at the onset of gastrulation, was previously found to contain much more DNA of maternal origin (P. lividus) than DNA of paternal origin. In spite of this, the RNA synthesized by the blocked gastrula hybridizes better with DNA of paternal type than with DNA of maternal type. An explanation of thru observation was sought in the present paper by means of saturation and competition experiments. The higher affinity of RNA from the hybrid gastrula for paternal DNA could be due to the fact that RNA of paternal type is complementary to a longer portion of the corresponding DNA than RNA of maternal type. This explanation was not satisfactory since the number of genes of paternal type which are active in the hybrid is not very different from the number of genes of maternal type. In normal embryos of A. lixula and P. lividus, RNA from unfertilized eggs and from plutei was found to be less competitive against labeled RNA from gastrulae than gastrula RNA itself. Transcription of the genome is therefore partially stage-specific. This stage-specificity is maintained in the hybrid as far as transcription of the maternal genome is concerned, but is lost as far as transcription of the paternal genome is concerned. The hybrid gastrula was shown to synthesize more RNA molecules of A. lixula type than does the normal gastrula of this species, whereas RNA of P. lividus type is produced in equal amounts m normal and in hybrid embryos. These observations explain the hybridization properties of the RNA synthesized by the blocked gastrula. The results suggest that the genes of paternal type that are very active in the hybrid are those genes which m normal embryos are transcribed at all stages of development and probably also in the adult. This class of genes is much more active in a foreign cytoplasm than in the cytoplasm of its own species. On the other hand, the genes whose activity is restricted to the gastrula stage m normal embryos are not active in the hybrid. This class of genes does not seem to function in a foreign cytoplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]