FEBS Letters 1996-12-02

BS-RNase tetramers: an example of domain-swapped oligomers.

S Adinolfi, R Piccoli, F Sica, L Mazzarella

文献索引：FEBS Lett. 398(2-3) , 326-32, (1996)

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摘要

In the ribonuclease superfamily, dimericity is a unique feature of bovine seminal RNase (BS-RNase). In about two-thirds of native BS-RNase molecules, the two subunits interchange their N-terminal tails, thus generating domain-swapped dimers (MxM), which mostly responsible for enzyme biological activities and allostericity. Higher molecular weight BS-RNase oligomers can also be prepared [Libonati, M. (1969) Ital. J. Biochem. 18, 407-417.]. This paper reports on BS-RNase tetrameric derivatives which were isolated and enzymatically characterized. The data collected and the analysis of the crystal packing of MxM dimers suggested a structural model for tetramer assembly, in which the four subunits are enchained by multiple domain-swapping events.