Studies on the Mechanism of Phosphate Accumulation by Sea Urchin Embryos

Abstract

The problem of phosphate entry into cells has been the subject of many studies with radioactive phosphorus during the past fifteen years. These studies, when compared with similar experiments with monovalent cations or chloride, present more difficulty in interpretation due to the fact that the greater part of the intracellular phosphate is in the form of organic compounds. These compounds often have a high turnover rate with respect to phosphorus. This usually exceeds the rate of phosphate transfer across the membrane (Hevesy, 1948).