The effects of food deprivation on protein turnover in rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) were investigated. Muscles were removed from fed or fasted growing rats, and protein synthesis and breakdown were measured during incubation in vitro. Rates of synthesis and degradation were higher in the dark soleus than in the pale EDL. One day after food removal protein synthesis and RNA content in the EDL decreased. On the 2nd day of fasting, rates of protein catabolism in this muscle increased. Little or no change in synthesis and degradation occurred in the soleus. Consequently, during fasting the soleus lost much less weight than the EDL and other rat muscles. In unsupplemented buffer or in medium containing amino acids, glucose, and insulin, the muscles of fasted rats showed a lower rate of protein synthesis expressed per milligram of tissue but not per microgram of RNA. Thus the decrease in muscle RNA on fasting was responsible for the reduced synthesis observed under controlled in vitro conditions. In vivo the reduction in muscle protein synthesis on fasting results both from a lower RNA content and lower rate of synthesis per microgram of RNA. Reduced supply of glucose, insulin, and amino acids may account for the lower rate of synthesis per microgram of RNA demonstrable in vivo.