CD studies on ribonuclease A - oligonucleotides interactions

H-n.m.r. studies on the specificity of the interaction between bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A and dideoxynucleoside monophosphates

The titration curves of the C-2 histidine protons of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A in the presence of several dideoxynucleoside monophosphates (dNpdN) were studied by means of proton nuclear magnetic resonance at 270 MHz in order to obtain information on the ligand--RNase A interaction. The changes in the chemical shift and pKs of the C-2 proton resonances of His-12, -48, -119 in the complexes RNase A--dNpdN were smaller than those previously found when the enzyme interacted with mononucleotides. The pK2 of His-12 was not affected by the interaction of the enzyme with these ligands, whereas, the perturbation of the pK2 of His-119 was clearly dependent on the nature of the ligand. If there is a pyrimidine nucleoside at the 3' side of the dideoxynucleoside monophosphates, as in TpdA and TpT, an enhancement due to the well known interaction of the phosphate in p1, the catalytic site, was found. However, when there is a purine nucleoside, as in dApT and dApdA, a decrease in the pK2 value was observed and we propose that in such cases the phosphate group interacts in a secondary phosphate binding site, p2. The results obtained suggest the existence of different specific interactions depending on the structure of the dideoxynucleoside monophosphate studied.

The reaction of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A with 6-chloropurineriboside 5'-monophosphate. Evidence on the existence of a phosphate-binding sub-site

The chemical modification of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A by 6-chloropurine 9-beta-D-ribofuranosyl 5'-monophosphate was studied under several reaction conditions. The reaction, at pH 7.3, 40 degrees C and a nucleotide: enzyme molar ratio of 60, showed a high degree of specificity in comparison to those corresponding to the base or the nucleoside. The main derivative was isolated by means of CM-cellulose chromatography. Subtilisin cleavage of this derivative showed that the substitution had taken place in the S-peptide moiety. Tryptic digestion of the S-peptide indicated that a lysine residue had been modified. Enzymatic and physico-chemical considerations showed that the actual site of reaction was the alpha-amino group of Lys-1. The structural and kinetic properties of the derivative are consistent with the existence of a phosphate-binding sub-site near the N-terminal region of the enzyme.

Studies on the binding of adenylyl-3', 5'-cytidine to ribonuclease

The interaction of adenylyl-3',5'-cytidine (ApC) with ribonuclease-A (RNAase-A) was studied by steady-state kinetics and ultraviolet difference spectroscopy. X-ray difference Fourier synthesis at 4 A resolution was also used to study the binding of ApC to RNAase-S. Unlike well-studied compounds like uridylyl-3',5'-adenosine, ApC binds in an unique way: (1) the cytidine moiety is bound to the B1 and R1 sites, (2) the adenosine moiety protrudes to the solution and is not fixed spatially and (3) the phosphate group is bound to the non-specific site (the "Po site") previously postulated (Sawada, F. and Irie, M. (1969) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 66, 415--418) as the binding site for the 5'-phosphate of uridine 2',5'-diphosphate or uridine 3',5'-diphosphate. This conclusion is consistent with that derived for adenylyl-3',5' -4-thiouridine based on CD difference spectroscopy (White, M.D., Keren-Zur, M. and Lapidot, Y. (1977) Nucleic Acid Res. 4, 843--851). The "Po site" is most likely the epsilon-amino group of Lys 66.