title: A phosphate-binding subsite in bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A can be converted into a very efficient catalytic site.
abstract: A general acid-base catalytic mechanism is responsible for the cleavage of the phosphodiester bonds of the RNA by ribonuclease A (RNase A). The main active site is formed by the amino acid residues His12, His119, and Lys41, and the process follows an endonucleolytic pattern that depends on the existence of a noncatalytic phosphate-binding subsite adjacent, on the 3'-side, to the active site; in this region the phosphate group of the substrate establishes electrostatic interactions through the side chains of Lys7 and Arg10. We have obtained, by means of site-directed mutagenesis, RNase A variants with His residues both at positions 7 and 10. These mutations have been introduced with the aim of transforming a noncatalytic binding subsite into a putative new catalytic active site. The RNase activity of these variants was determined by the zymogram technique and steady-state kinetic parameters were obtained by spectrophotometric methods. The variants showed a catalytic efficiency in the same order of magnitude as the wild-type enzyme. However, we have demonstrated in these variants important effects on the substrate's cleavage pattern. The quadruple mutant K7H/R10H/H12K/H119Q shows a clear increase of the exonucleolytic activity; in this case the original native active site has been suppressed, and, as consequence, its activity can only be associated to the new active site. In addition, the mutant K7H/R10H, with two putative active sites, also shows an increase in the exonucleolytic preference with respect to the wild type, a fact that may be correlated with the contribution of the new active site.
authors.affiliation: Department de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moussaoui
authors.forename: Claudi M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cuchillo
authors.forename: M Victòria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Nogués
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D020134:Catalytic Domain / Q000235:genetics; D002417:Cattle; D006868:Hydrolysis; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010710:Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012259:Ribonuclease, Pancreatic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D010710:Phosphates; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012259:Ribonuclease, Pancreatic