Nonrepetitive DNA sequence representation in sea urchin embryo messenger RNA.

Messenger RNA was prepared from developing sea urchin gastrulae by puromycin release from polyribosomes. Approximately 60% of the total mRNA radioactivity of the postnuclear supernatant was recovered and shown to be free of any other labeled RNA species such as ribosomal and nuclear RNA. The mRNA was examined by hybridization to DNA present in great excess. The mRNA hybridizes almost exclusively with nonrepetitive DNA. Almost all of the messenger RNA molecules of sea urchin gastrulae therefore consist of transcripts from nonrepetitive sequences. It appears that the structural genes expressed at this stage are typically not repeated in the genome and the mRNA does not include recognizable repetitive sequence.