Exposure of phosphocellulose-purified 6S tubulin to ionizing radiation results in a reduction or loss in its ability to participate in polymerization. Evidence is presented which -A. number of theories have been proposed to explain the mitotic delay which occurs following exposure of cultured cells to ionizing radiation (Oleinick & Rustad 1976;Okada, 1970a); however, none satisfactorily accounts for all of the observed results. Many of the studies which were performed to elucidate the target site of the damage concentrated on measurement of the rates of DNA, RNA, or protein synthesis following irradiation (Bacchetti & Sinclair, 1970Sinclair, ,1971Doida & Okada, 1969;Tomasovic & Dewey, 1978).