Translational control of ADP‐ribosylation in eucaryotic cells

Abstract
Starvation of the mouse hepatoma cell line Hepa for an essential amino acid (Trp, His, Leu, Ile or Phe) stimulated the incorporation of [3H]adenosine as ADP-ribose monomer into an 80,000-Mr protein, P80. Two-dimensional electrophoresis of Hepa proteins showed that P80 was the only protein labeled under starvation conditions. Time course experiments showed that the ADP-ribosylation of P80 was a consequence rather than the cause of reduced translational activity. Cycloheximide treatment and incubation at reduced temperatures also reduced the rate of protein synthesis and stimulated the ADP-ribosylation of P80. Starvation-dependent ADP-ribosylation of P80 was shown to occur in three other cell lines (Chang, Neuro-2a, and chick comb fibroblasts).