title: Post X-ray crystallographic studies of chymosin: the existence of two structural forms and the regulation of activity by the interaction with the histidine-proline cluster of kappa-casein.
abstract: Calf chymosin molecules exist in the two alternative structural forms: the first one has S1 and S3 binding pockets occluded by its own Tyr77 residue (the self-inhibited form); the second has these pockets free for a substrate binding (the active form). The preliminary incubation of the enzyme with a pentapeptide corresponding to the histidine-proline cluster of the specific substrate kappa-casein results in a 200-fold increase of the hydrolysis rate for the enzyme 'slow substrate'. The result suggests that the cluster is an allosteric effector that promotes the conversion of the enzyme into the active form. These data provide the experimental ground for the explanation of chymosin specificity towards kappa-casein.
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gustchina
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rumsh
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ginodman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Majer
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Andreeva
mesh_terms: D000494:Allosteric Regulation; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002364:Caseins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002417:Cattle; D012085:Chymosin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D006868:Hydrolysis; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D002364:Caseins; D012085:Chymosin