Metabolic activities and cleavage of eggs of the sea urchin, arbacia punctulata; a review, 1932-1949.

Abstract

1. This review deals with the general question of relation of metabolic activities to cleavage in the Arbacia egg. According to current biochemical concepts the answer to this question would be found in complete information about the following subjects:a. The identity and interrelationships of the catalysts by which the eggs derive energy from foodstuffs.b. The reactions by which energy is transferred to make possible the synthesis of structural and functional elements of the egg, such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, coenzymes, nucleic acids and other substances, many of which may yet be unknown.c. The chemical and Physical chemical rearrangements of these structural functional elements which lead to the biological event of cleavage.The third subject is completely beyond investigation by present techniques, and the second is just being opened to investigation in the living egg by application of isotopic labelling techniques. This review is concerned, therefore, chiefly with the nature and interrelatio...