The use of asparagine and glutamine for the biosynthesis of casein and plasma proteins

Abstract

The mammary gland is a system in which the components of the blood stream which are used by body tissues for protein synthesis can be readily investigated (Barry, 1956). Previous work has shown that the mammary gland takes the free essential amino acids from the blood stream to provide the essential amino acids of casein (Barry, 1952; Campbell & Work, 1952; Askonas, Campbell, Godin & Work, 1955), and takes free glutamine and glutamic acid to provide the glutamine and glutamic acid residues respectively of casein (Barry, 1956; Sheldon-Peters & Barry, 1956).