To investigate differences between growing yeasts and those undergoing sporulation, we compared several parameters of messenger ribonucleic acid (RNA) transcription and translation. The general properties of messenger RNA metabolism were not significantly altered by the starvation conditions accompanying sporulation. The average messenger RNA half-life, calculated from the kinetics of incorporation of [3H]adenine into polyadenylic acid-containing RNA, was 20 min on both cell populations. Furthermore, 1.3 to 1.4% of the total RNA was adenylated in both growing and sporulating cells. However, the proportion of RNA that could be translated in a wheat germ system slowly decreased during sporulation. Within 8 h after the induction of sporulation, isolated RNA stimulated half as much protein synthesis as the equivalent amount of vegetative RNA. There were significant differences in protein synthesis. The percentage of ribosomes in polysomes decreased threefold as the cells entered sporulation. This decrease began within 5 min of the initiation of sporulation, and the steady-state pattern was attained within 120 min. However, the ribosomes were not irreversibly inactivated; they could be reincorporated into polysomes by returning the sporulating cells to growth medium. Though unable to sporulate, strains homozygous for mating type, MAT alpha/MAT alpha, showed a similar decrease in the number of polysomes when placed in sporulation medium. Furthermore, the same shift toward monosomes was observed during stationary phase of growth. We conclude that the redistribution of ribosomes represents a general metabolic response to starvation. Our data indicate that the loss of polysomes is most likely caused by a decrease in the initiation of translation rather than a severe limitation in the amount of messenger RNA. Furthermore, the loss of polysomes is not due to the decreased synthesis of a major class of abundant proteins. Of the 400 vegetative proteins resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, only 19 were not synthesized by sporulating cells. Approximately 10 to 20% of the cells in a sporulating culture failed to complete ascus formation. We have shown that [35S]methionine is incorporated equivalently into cells committed to sporulation and cells that fail to form asci. Furthermore, the proteins synthesized by these two populations were indistinguishable, on one-dimensional gels. We compared proteins labeled by various protocols, including long-term and pulse-labeling during sporulation and prelabeling during vegetative growth before transfer to sporulation medium. The resulting two-dimensional gel patterns differed significantly. Many spots labeled by the long-term techniques may have arisen by protein processing. We suggest that pulse-labeling produces the most accurate reflection of instantaneous synthesis of proteins.