Reiteration frequency of procollagen genes in the guinea pig genome. Collagen genes are not amplified during granuloma fibroblasts differentiation.

Procollagen mRNA was purified from collagen synthesizing polysomes obtained from an experimental guinea pig granuloma, and iodinated in vitro. The procollagen 125I-labelled mRNA was hibridized with granuloma and liver guinea pig DNA in vast DNA excess conditions. A Cot 1/2 800-900 mol . s . 1-1 for both tissues was obtained from the hybridization curves. With these results, we could suggest the existence of 11-13 procollagen genes per haploid genome. By the analysis of the hybridization data it was possible to infer that there is no genomic amplification in tissues highly specialized in the synthesis of collagen such as granuloma.