Protein Degradation in Spontaneously Degenerating Muscles

Abstract

The programmed death of the intersegmental muscles of moths provides an ideal situation in which to study protein catabolism. In this tissue, 50 to 100 mg (fresh weight) of muscle is resorbed during the first two days of adult existence. The intersegmental muscles are fully contractile at the moment of emergence, but begin to degenerate within three hours. Thus the situation provides us with a sufficiently large amount of relatively pure tissue, which degenerates rapidly and with good synchrony. Under such circumstances we can readily study the control of protein catabolism as well as its enzymology.