Impairment of cytoplasmic protein synthesis can be detected on whole cells by cytochrome spectra

Abstract

Alteration of mitochondrial protein synthesis can be detected by observation of cytochrome spectra. In the fungus Podospora anserina, it is shown that an impairment of cytoplasmic protein synthesis by cycloheximide and paromomycin results in a decrease of thec/b ratio. A number of mutant strains previously found to exhibit altered translational fidelity or resistance to inhibitors of cytoplasmic protein synthesis were analyzed, and, in most of them, a similar alteration of the cytochrome ratio was observed. Examination of cytochrome spectra of whole cells thus seems to be a rapid and reliable tool for testing mutants assumed to be altered in cytoplasmic protein synthesis.