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From: michaelm@bcsaic.UUCP (michael b maxwell)
Newsgroups: net.bio
Subject: Protein synthesis in red blood cells
Message-ID: <371@bcsaic.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Nov-85 15:34:10 EST
Article-I.D.: bcsaic.371
Posted: Tue Nov 12 15:34:10 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Nov-85 20:41:24 EST
Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle
Lines: 19

From Scientific American article "RNA" Oct. 1985, pg. 70:
> ...in human beings only red blood cells make hemoglobin...
My question is, how do they do this?  I seem to remember that rbc's are
anucleate, at least in the form that they float around in the blood
stream.  Some possible answers:
1. Rbc's make hemoglobin (and other proteins) only when they are being
produced in the marrow;
2. Rbc's contain some DNA, even though they're anucleate;
3. Rbc's don't have any DNA, but they use the mRNA that they "inherited"
(but I seem to remember that the lifetime of mRNA in a cell is
exceedingly short).
Any answers?
I also seem to recall that the lifetime of an rbc is quite short, as
compared with that of other cells in the body.  Is this related with
their being anucleate?
-- 
Mike Maxwell
Boeing Artificial Intelligence Center
	...uw-beaver!uw-june!bcsaic!michaelm