title: Crystal structure of the specificity domain of ribonuclease P.
abstract: RNase P is the only endonuclease responsible for processing the 5' end of transfer RNA by cleaving a precursor and leading to tRNA maturation. It contains an RNA component and a protein component and has been identified in all organisms. It was one of the first catalytic RNAs identified and the first that acts as a multiple-turnover enzyme in vivo. RNase P and the ribosome are so far the only two ribozymes known to be conserved in all kingdoms of life. The RNA component of bacterial RNase P can catalyse pre-tRNA cleavage in the absence of the RNase P protein in vitro and consists of two domains: a specificity domain and a catalytic domain. Here we report a 3.15-A resolution crystal structure of the 154-nucleotide specificity domain of Bacillus subtilis RNase P. The structure reveals the architecture of this domain, the interactions that maintain the overall fold of the molecule, a large non-helical but well-structured module that is conserved in all RNase P RNA, and the regions that are involved in interactions with the substrate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Andrey S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Krasilnikov
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mondragón
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D043262:Ribonuclease P; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D004722:Endoribonucleases; D043262:Ribonuclease P