Mutagenesis of residues flanking Lys-40 enhances the enzymatic activity and reduces the angiogenic potency of angiogenin.

The primary structure of the blood vessel inducing protein angiogenin is 35% identical with that of pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase) and contains counterparts for the critical RNase active-site residues His-12, Lys-41, and His-119. Although angiogenin is a ribonucleolytic enzyme, its activity toward conventional substrates is lower than that of pancreatic RNase by several orders of magnitude. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of RNase and angiogenin reveals several striking differences in the region flanking the active-site lysine, including a deletion and a transposition of aspartic acid and proline residues. In order to examine how these sequence changes alter the functional properties of angiogenin, an angiogenin/RNase hybrid protein (ARH-II), in which residues 38-41 of angiogenin (Pro-Cys-Lys-Asp) have been replaced by the corresponding segment of bovine pancreatic RNase (Asp-Arg-Cys-Lys-Pro), was prepared by regional mutagenesis. Compared to angiogenin, ARH-II has markedly diminished angiogenic activity on the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane but 5-75-fold greater enzymatic activity toward a variety of polynucleotide and dinucleotide substrates. In addition, the specificity of ARH-II toward dinucleotide substrates differs from that of angiogenin and is qualitatively similar to that of pancreatic RNase. Thus, non-active-site residues near Lys-40 in angiogenin appear to play a significant role in determining enzymatic specificity and reactivity as well as angiogenic potency. An additional angiogenin/RNase hybrid protein (ARH-IV), in which residues 59-71 of ARH-II have been replaced by the corresponding segment of pancreatic RNase, was also prepared.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A covalent angiogenin/ribonuclease hybrid with a fourth disulfide bond generated by regional mutagenesis

Human angiogenin is a blood vessel inducing protein whose primary structure displays 33% identity to that of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A). Angiogenin catalyzes limited cleavage of 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA and is several orders of magnitude less potent than RNase A toward conventional substrates. A striking structural difference between angiogenin and RNase is the virtual absence of sequence similarity within the region of RNase that contains the Cys-65--Cys-72 disulfide bond. Indeed, angiogenin lacks this disulfide linkage. The present report describes the use of regional mutagenesis to generate a covalent angiogenin/RNase hybrid protein, ARH-I, where residues 58-70 of angiogenin have been replaced by the corresponding segment of RNase A (residues 59-73). The protein expressed in Escherichia coli readily folds at pH 8.5 to form the four expected disulfide bonds. The in vivo angiogenic potency of ARH-I is markedly diminished compared with that of angiogenin when examined using the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay. In contrast, its enzymatic activity is dramatically increased. With high molecular weight wheat germ RNA and tRNA, ARH-I is 660- and 300-fold more active than angiogenin, respectively, while with poly(uridylic acid), poly(cytidylic acid), cytidylyl(3'----5')adenosine (CpA), and uridylyl(3'----5')adenosine (UpA) activity is enhanced by about 200-fold. In addition, the specificity of ARH-I toward dinucleoside 3',5'-phosphates is qualitatively similar to RNase A; while angiogenin prefers cytidylyl(3'----5')guanosine (CpG) to UpA, both RNase and the hybrid prefer UpA to CpG. ARH-I also displays greater than 10-fold enhanced activity toward rRNA in intact ribosomes, while abolishing the capacity of the ribosome to support cell-free protein synthesis. The enhanced enzymatic properties of ARH-I parallel a 2-fold increase in chemical reactivity of active-site lysine and histidine residues based on rates of chemical modification. The data indicate that introduction of a region of RNase A containing the Cys-65--Cys-72 disulfide bond into angiogenin dramatically increases RNase-like enzymatic activity while reducing its angiogenicity.     

A hybrid of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease and human angiogenin: an external loop as a module controlling substrate specificity?

A comparison of the sequences of three homologous ribonucleases (RNase A, angiogenin and bovine seminal RNase) identifies three surface loops that are highly variable between the three proteins. Two hypotheses were contrasted: (i) that this variation might be responsible for the different catalytic activities of the three proteins; and (ii) that this variation is simply an example of surface loops undergoing rapid neutral divergence in sequence. Three hybrids of angiogenin and bovine pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase) A were prepared where regions in these loops taken from angiogenin were inserted into RNase A. Two of the three hybrids had unremarkable catalytic properties. However, the RNase A mutant containing residues 63-74 of angiogenin had greatly diminished catalytic activity against uridylyl-(3'----5')-adenosine (UpA), and slightly increased catalytic activity as an inhibitor of translation in vitro. Both catalytic behaviors are characteristic of angiogenin. This is one of the first examples of an engineered external loop in a protein. Further, these results are complementary to those recently obtained from the complementary experiment, where residues 59-70 of RNase were inserted into angiogenin [Harper and Vallee (1989) Biochemistry, 28, 1875-1884]. Thus, the external loop in residues 63-74 of RNase A appears to behave, at least in part, as an interchangeable 'module' that influences substrate specificity in an enzyme in a way that is isolated from the influences of other regions in the protein.     

Genetic selection for critical residues in ribonucleases

Homologous mammalian proteins were subjected to an exhaustive search for residues that are critical to their structure/function. Error-prone polymerase chain reactions were used to generate random mutations in the genes of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase A) and human angiogenin, and a genetic selection based on the intrinsic cytotoxicity of ribonucleolytic activity was used to isolate inactive variants. Twenty-three of the 124 residues in RNase A were found to be intolerant to substitution with at least one particular amino acid. Twenty-nine of the 123 residues in angiogenin were likewise intolerant. In both RNase A and angiogenin, only six residues appeared to be wholly intolerant to substitution: two histidine residues involved in general acid/base catalysis and four cysteine residues that form two disulfide bonds. With few exceptions, the remaining critical residues were buried in the hydrophobic core of the proteins. Most of these residues were found to tolerate only conservative substitutions. The importance of a particular residue as revealed by this genetic selection correlated with its sequence conservation, though several non-conserved residues were found to be critical for protein structure/function. Despite voluminous research on RNase A, the importance of many residues identified herein was unknown, and those can now serve as targets for future work. Moreover, a comparison of the critical residues in RNase A and human angiogenin, which share only 35% amino acid sequence identity, provides a unique perspective on the molecular evolution of the RNase A superfamily, as well as an impetus for applying this methodology to other ribonucleases.     

Sequence of human eosinophil-derived neurotoxin cDNA: identity of deduced amino acid sequence with human nonsecretory ribonucleases

Several clones of human eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) cDNA have been isolated from a lambda gt10 cDNA library prepared from mRNA derived from noninduced HL-60 cells. The amino acid (aa) sequence deduced from the coding sequence of the EDN cDNA is identical to the aa sequence of urinary nonsecretory RNase. Comparison of the aa and/or nucleotide (nt) sequences of EDN and other proteins possessing ribonucleolytic activity, namely bovine seminal RNase, human and rat pancreatic RNases, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), and human angiogenin, shows extensive identity at half-cystine residues and at aa of active sites. Differences in aa sequences at the active sites are often the result of single nt changes in the codons. The data presented here support the concept of a RNase gene superfamily containing secretory and nonsecretory RNases, angiogenin, EDN and ECP.     

Ribonuclease activity of sialic acid-binding lectin from Rana catesbeiana eggs

Sialic acid-binding lectin (SBL) isolated from Rana catesbeianaeggs is a basic protein which agglutinates a large variety oftumour cells and has an amino acid sequence homologous to thatof human angiogenin and pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase). AlthoughSBL and angiogenin lack the Cys-65-Cys-72 disulphide bond ofpancreatic RNase, the locations of the other three disulphidebonds are similar among the three molecules. SBL was found toexhibit RNase activity, as well as catalytic properties resemblingthose of bovine RNase A in some respects. For example, SBL hydrolysespoly(uridylic acid) and poly(cytidylic acid) as substrates,and prefers the former. RNase A and angiogenin are stronglyinhibited by human placental RNase inhibitor, whereas the RNaseactivity and tumour cell agglutination activity of SBL are notaffected by this inhibitor.     

Enzymatically active angiogenin/ribonuclease A hybrids formed by peptide interchange

The primary structures of the blood vessel inducing protein human angiogenin and human pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase) are 35% identical. Angiogenin catalyzes the limited cleavage of ribosomal RNA (18 and 28 S), yielding a characteristic pattern of polynucleotide products, but shows no significant activity toward conventional pancreatic RNase substrates [Shapiro, R., Riordan, J. F., & Vallee, B. L. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 3527-3532]. Angiogenin/RNase hybrid enzymes--wherein particular regions of primary structure in RNase are replaced by the corresponding segments of angiogenin--serve to explore the structural features underlying angiogenin's characteristic activities. Herein we show that synthetic angiogenin peptides, Ang(1-21) and Ang(108-123), form noncovalent complexes with inactive fragments of bovine RNase A--RNase(21-124) (i.e., S-protein) and RNase(1-118), respectively--with regeneration of activity toward conventional RNase substrates. Maximal activities for the Ang(1-21)/S-protein complex (Kd = 1.0 microM) are 52%, 45%, and 15% toward cytidine cyclic 2',3'-phosphate, cytidylyl(3'----5')adenosine, and yeast RNA, respectively. In contrast, activities of the RNase(1-118)/Ang(108-123) hybrid (Kd = 25 microM) are 1-2 orders of magnitude lower toward cyclic nucleotides and dinucleoside phosphates. However, substitution of phenylalanine for Leu-115 in Ang(108-123) increases activity up to 100-fold. Both His-13 and His-114 in the angiogenin peptides are required for activity since their substitution by alanine yields inactive complexes. Importantly, the pattern of polynucleotide products formed during cleavage of ribosomal RNA by the Ang(1-21)/S-protein hybrid shows a striking resemblance to that formed by angiogenin, demonstrating that the hybrid retains features of both angiogenin and RNase A.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Replacement of residues 8-22 of angiogenin with 7-21 of RNase A selectively affects protein synthesis inhibition and angiogenesis.

The region of human angiogenin containing residues 8-21 is highly conserved in angiogenins from four mammalian species but differs substantially from the corresponding region of the homologous protein ribonuclease A (RNase A). Regional mutagenesis has been employed to replace this segment of angiogenin with the corresponding RNase A sequence, and the activities of the resulting covalent angiogenin/RNase hybrid, designated ARH-III, have been examined. The ribonucleolytic activity of ARH-III is unchanged toward most substrates, including tRNA, naked 18S and 28S rRNA, CpA, CpG, UpA, and UpG. In contrast, the capacity of ARH-III to inhibit cell-free protein synthesis is decreased 20-30-fold compared to that of angiogenin. The angiogenic activity of ARH-III is also different; it is actually more potent. It induces a maximal response in the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay at 0.1 ng per egg, a 10-fold lower dose than required for angiogenin. In addition, binding of ARH-III to the placental ribonuclease inhibitor is increased by at least 1 order of magnitude (Ki less than or equal to 7 x 10(-17) M) compared to angiogenin. Thus, mutation of a highly conserved region of angiogenin markedly affects those properties likely involved in its biological function(s); it does not, however, alter ribonucleolytic activity toward most substrates.     

Amino acid sequence of bovine angiogenin

The amino acid sequence and disulfide bridges of bovine plasma derived angiogenin were determined by sequencer analysis of the intact protein and fragments derived by enzymatic and chemical digestion. Bovine angiogenin is a single-chain protein of 125 amino acids; it contains six cysteines and has a calculated molecular weight of 14,595. In contrast to the human protein its amino terminus is unblocked. It has the following sequence: H2N-Ala1-Gln-Asp-Asp-Tyr-Arg-Tyr-Ile-His-Phe10-Leu-Thr-Gln-His-Tyr -Asp-Ala-Lys- Pro-Lys20-Gly-Arg-Asn-Asp-Glu-Tyr-Cys-Phe-Asn-Met30-Met-Lys- Asn-Arg-Arg-Leu-Thr - Arg-Pro-Cys40-Lys-Asp-Arg-Asn-Thr-Phe-Ile-His-Gly-Asn50-Lys- Asn-Asp-Ile-Lys-Ala - Ile-Cys-Glu-Asp60-Arg-Asn-Gly-Gln-Pro-Tyr-Arg-Gly-Asp-Leu70- Arg-Ile-Ser-Lys-Ser - Glu-Phe-Gln-Ile-Thr80-Ile-Cys-Lys-His-Lys-Gly-Ser-Ser-Arg90- Pro-Pro-Cys-Arg-Tyr - Gly-Ala-Thr-Glu-Asp100-Ser-Arg-Val-Ile-Val-Val-Gly-Cys-Glu-Asn1 10-Gly-Leu-Pro- Val-His-Phe-Asp-Glu-Ser-Phe120-Ile-Thr-Pro-Arg-His-OH. Disulfide bonds link Cys(27)-Cys(82), Cys(40)-Cys(93), and Cys(58)-Cys(108). Bovine angiogenin is 64% identical with human angiogenin; like the human protein, it is homologous to the pancreatic ribonucleases, with conservation of active site residues. Two regions, 6-22 and 65-75, are highly conserved between the angiogenins but are significantly different from those of the ribonucleases, suggesting a possible role in the molecules' biological activity.     

Amino acid sequence of human tumor derived angiogenin

The amino acid sequence and disulfide bond pairing of human tumor derived angiogenin, the first tumor angiogenesis factor to be isolated in pure form from human sources, have been determined by conventional sequencing techniques adapted and applied to nanomole and subnanomole levels of material. Angiogenin, obtained from conditioned media of a human colonic adenocarcinoma cell line, is a single-chain protein consisting of 123 amino acids with the following sequences: less than Glu1-Asp-Asn-Ser-Arg-Tyr-Thr-His- Phe-Leu-Thr-Gln-His-Tyr-Asp15-Ala-Lys-Pro-Gln-Gly-Arg-Asp-Asp- Arg-Tyr-Cys-Glu-Ser-Ile-Met30- Arg-Arg-Arg-Gly-Leu-Thr-Ser-Pro-Cys-Lys-Asp-Ile-Asn-Thr- Phe45-Ile-His-Gly-Asn-Lys-Arg-Ser -Ile-Lys-Ala-Ile-Cys-Glu-Asn-Lys60-Asn-Gly-Asn-Pro-His-Arg-Glu-Asn -Leu-Arg-Ile -Ser-Lys-Ser-Ser75 -Phe-Gln-Val-Thr-Thr-Cys-Lys-Leu-His-Gly-Gly-Ser-Pro-Trp-Pro90-Pro -Cys-Gln-Tyr -Arg-Ala-Thr-Ala -Gly-Phe-Arg-Asn-Val-Val-Val105-Ala-Cys-Glu-Asn-Gly-Leu-Pro-Val- His-Leu-Asp-Gln-Ser-Ile-Phe120-Arg-Arg-Pro123-OH. Three disulfide bonds link the half-cystinyl residues 26-81, 39-92, and 57-107. The sequence is homologous to that of the pancreatic ribonucleases with 35% identity and many of the remaining residues conservatively replaced. Similarities are especially apparent around the major active-site residues His-12, Lys-41, and His-119 of ribonuclease which are conserved as are three of the four disulfide bonds.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Characteristic ribonucleolytic activity of human angiogenin

Angiogenin, a blood vessel inducing protein isolated from a human tumor cell line, has been found to exhibit ribonucleolytic activity. It catalyzes the cleavage of both 28S and 18S ribosomal RNA as determined by agarose gel electrophoresis. The major products formed with these substrates are 100-500 nucleotides in length. In contrast, angiogenin is inactive toward all of the more conventional substrates of the homologous pancreatic ribonucleases. In particular, it does not produce detectable amounts of acid-soluble fragments from high molecular weight wheat germ RNA, poly(C), or poly(U), nor does it hydrolyze cytidine or uridine cyclic 2',3'-phosphate. The high degree of sequence homology between angiogenin and the pancreatic ribonucleases, which includes all three catalytic residues, His-12, Lys-41, and His-119, has thus identified the chemical nature of a potential angiogenin substrate. These results may bear importantly on the physiological function of angiogenin.     

Isolation of bovine angiogenin using a placental ribonuclease inhibitor binding assay

Angiogenin, which induces the formation of new blood vessels, was isolated previously from two human sources--HT-29 tumor conditioned media and normal plasma. By use of a newly developed binding assay, a similar protein has now been purified from bovine plasma at levels of 30-80 micrograms/L. This protein has the structural, enzymatic, and biological characteristics expected for an angiogenin molecule. Its amino acid composition is similar to that of the human protein, and 22 of 31 residues in the amino-terminal sequences are identical, including a block of 11 consecutive residues. Like human angiogenin, the bovine protein binds placental ribonuclease inhibitor, is inactive toward conventional RNase A substrates, and displays selective ribonucleolytic activity toward some rRNAs. In addition, the bovine protein induces angiogenesis in vivo in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay at levels as low as 44 fmol per egg. Thus, angiogenin is present in bovine sera at levels similar to those observed in man, and its enzymatic and biological activities are identical with those of the human protein.     

Crystal structure of eosinophil cationic protein at 2.4 A resolution

Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is located in the matrix of the eosinophil's large specific granule and has marked toxicity for a variety of helminth parasites, hemoflagellates, bacteria, single-stranded RNA virus, and mammalian cells and tissues. It belongs to the bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A) family and exhibits ribonucleolytic activity which is about 100-fold lower than that of a related eosinophil ribonuclease, the eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN). The crystal structure of human ECP, determined at 2.4 A, is similar to that of RNase A and EDN. It reveals that residues Gln-14, His-15, Lys-38, Thr-42, and His-128 at the active site are conserved as in all other RNase A homologues. Nevertheless, evidence for considerable divergence of ECP is also implicit in the structure. Amino acid residues Arg-7, Trp-10, Asn-39, His-64, and His-82 appear to play a key part in the substrate specificity and low catalytic activity of ECP. The structure also shows how the cationic residues are distributed on the surface of the ECP molecule that may have implications for an understanding of the cytotoxicity of this enzyme.     

Amino acid sequence of iron-superoxide dismutase from Pseudomonas ovalis

The amino acid sequence of iron-superoxide dismutase from Pseudomonas ovalis was deduced by the analyses of peptides derived from limited hydrolysis of the aminoethylated or pyridylethylated apoprotein with trypsin, Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease, and dilute acid hydrolysis. The polypeptide chain contains 195 amino acid residues and has a calculated Mr of 21,421. The sequence is highly homologous (65% identity) to the recently published sequence of the iron-superoxide dismutase from Photobacterium leiognathi. It is also homologous to the known sequences of the manganese-superoxide dismutase by sharing 33-53% identical residues. Alignment of the superoxide dismutase sequences and the available structural information from X-ray crystallography suggest that the ligands to the iron in the P. ovalis superoxide dismutase are His-26, His-74, Asp-156 and His-160, which align with the ligands to the manganese in the Thermus thermophilus manganese-superoxide dismutase. The sequence information of the P. ovalis dismutase will facilitate refinement of the X-ray crystallographic data that are now available at 2.9 A resolution.     

Isolation and characterization of angiogenin-1 and a novel protein designated lactogenin from bovine milk.

This paper reports the isolation and characterization from bovine milk of two proteins: angiogenin-1, a recently discovered angiogenin, and lactogenin, a novel protein. Both proteins were adsorbed on and eluted closely from CM-Sepharose and Mono S. Lactogenin possessed a molecular weight (17 kDa) slightly higher than that of angiogenin-1 (15 kDa). Lactogenin had a higher ribonucleolytic (RNase) activity than angiogenin-1 towards yeast transfer RNA (tRNA). The Km values estimated for the RNase activities of angiogenin-1 and lactogenin were 51 microM and 40 microM respectively. Both were specific for poly C. The optimal pH for the RNase activities of angiogenin-1 and lactogenin was 7.75 and 7.5 respectively. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of cyanogen bromide fragments and the pyroglutaminase-treated N-terminal fragment of lactogenin with the sequence of bovine liver RNase (RNase BL4) revealed identity in residues 3-22, 24, 26-27, 37, 41-44, 46-50, 54, 56, 63, 72-80, and 83. Considerable similarity to the N-terminal sequence of angiogenin-2 was also noted. Both lactogenin and angiogenin-1 inhibited cell-free translation in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system with an IC(50) below 100 nM.     

Complete amino-acid sequence of bovine seminal ribonuclease, a dimeric protein from seminal plasma

The complete amino-acid sequence of BS-RNAse, a dimeric ribonuclease isolated from bovine seminal plasma, was determined. The reduced and S-carboxymethylated subunit chain of the enzyme was cleaved by trypsin and chymotrypsin. The resulting peptides, purified by cation-exchange chromatography were sequenced by dansyl-Edman, subtractive Edman degradation and carboxypeptidase A and B digestion. Chymotryptic peptides were used for the alignment. Automated Edman degradation of the native protein, through the N-terminal 41 amino-acid residues, completed the sequence information. The subunit chain of BS-RNAse, composed of 124 amino-acid residues, with a molecular mass of 13,610 Da, is highly homologous (81%) to pancreatic ribonuclease A. A good degree of homology (31%) was also found with human angiogenin. No N-linked carbohydrate-attachment sites, such as Asn-X-Ser/Thr, were found in the protein.     

Angiogenin is a cytotoxic, tRNA-specific ribonuclease in the RNase A superfamily.

Angiogenin is a 14.4-kDa human plasma protein with 65% homology to RNase A that retains the key active site residues and three of the four RNase A disulfide bonds. We demonstrate that recombinant angiogenin functions as a cytotoxic tRNA-specific RNase in cell-free lysates and when injected into Xenopus oocytes. Inhibition of protein synthesis by angiogenin correlates with degradation of endogenous oocyte tRNA. Exogenous, radiolabeled tRNA is also hydrolyzed by angiogenin, whereas oocyte rRNA and mRNA are not detectably degraded by angiogenin. Protein synthesis was restored to angiogenin-injected oocytes by injecting the RNase inhibitor RNasin plus total Xenopus or calf liver tRNAs, thereby demonstrating that the tRNA degradation induced by angiogenin was the sole cause of cytotoxicity. A similar tRNA-reversible inhibition of protein synthesis was seen in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. Angiogenin therefore appears to be a specific cellular tRNase, whereas five homologues in the RNase A superfamily lack angiogenin's specificity for tRNA. One of these homologues purified from human eosinophils, eosinophil-derived neurotoxin, nonspecifically degrades oocyte RNA similar to RNase A and is also cytotoxic at very low concentrations.     

Sequence of the cDNA and gene for angiogenin, a human angiogenesis factor

Human cDNAs coding for angiogenin, a human tumor derived angiogenesis factor, were isolated from a cDNA library prepared from human liver poly(A) mRNA employing a synthetic oligonucleotide as a hybridization probe. The largest cDNA insert (697 base pairs) contained a short 5'-noncoding sequence followed by a sequence coding for a signal peptide of 24 (or 22) amino acids, 369 nucleotides coding for the mature protein of 123 amino acids, a stop codon, a 3'-noncoding sequence of 175 nucleotides, and a poly(A) tail. The gene coding for human angiogenin was then isolated from a genomic lambda Charon 4A bacteriophage library employing the cDNA as a probe. The nucleotide sequence of the gene and the adjacent 5'- and 3'-flanking regions (4688 base pairs) was then determined. The coding and 3'-noncoding regions of the gene for human angiogenin were found to be free of introns, and the DNA sequence for the gene agreed well with that of the cDNA. The gene contained a potential TATA box in the 5' end in addition to two Alu repetitive sequences immediately flanking the 5' and 3' ends of the gene. The third Alu sequence was also found about 500 nucleotides downstream from the Alu sequence at the 3' end of the gene. The amino acid sequence of human angiogenin as predicted from the gene sequence was in complete agreement with that determined by amino acid sequence analysis. It is about 35% homologous with human pancreatic ribonuclease, and the amino acid residues that are essential for the activity of ribonuclease are also conserved in angiogenin. This provocative finding is thought to have important physiological implications.     

Primary structure of an alkaline ribonuclease from bovine liver

A pyrimidine base specific and most basic alkaline RNase named RNase BL4 was isolated from bovine liver as a protein showing a single band on slab gel-electrophoresis. The enzyme is most active at pH 7.5. The enzyme was immunologically distinguishable from the known bovine RNases such as pancreatic RNase (RNase A), seminal RNase, kidney non-secretory RNase (RNase K2), and brain RNase (RNase BRb). The primary structure of this pyrimidine base-specific RNase was determined to be less than EDRMYQRFLRQHVDPDETG- GNDSYCNLMMQRRKMTSHQCKRFNTFIHEDLWNIRSICSTTNIQCKNGQMNCHEGVVRV- TDCRETGSSRAPNCRYRAKASTRRVVIACEGNPEVPVHFDK. It consists of 119 amino acid residues, and is 5 amino acid residues shorter than RNase A. The sequence homology of RNase BL4 with RNase A is 46.2%, and optimal alignment of RNase A and RNase BL4 requires five deletions, one at the 24th position, two at the 75th and 76th positions, and two at the C-terminus in RNase BL4. The RNase BL4 was highly homologous with a porcine liver RNase (RNase PL3, 94.1% homology) studied by Hofsteenge et al. (personal communication from Hofsteenge, J., Matthies, R., and Stones, S.R.).     

Kinetic characterization of two active mutants of placental ribonuclease inhibitor that lack internal repeats

Human placental ribonuclease inhibitor (PRI), a 50-kDa tight-binding inhibitor of angiogenin and pancreatic ribonuclease, consists predominantly of 7 internal repeats, each 57 residues long. Repeats 3 plus 4 (residues 144-257) or repeat 6 (residues 315-371) can be deleted to give mutant proteins, PRI delta 3-4 and PRI delta 6, respectively, that retain inhibitory activity [Lee, F. S., & Vallee, B. L. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 1879-1883]. We describe here the isolation and characterization of these two active mutant proteins. Both inhibit the enzymatic activities of either angiogenin or bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A) with a 1:1 stoichiometry, and the mode of inhibition of RNase A by either is competitive. PRI delta 3-4 binds to angiogenin and RNase A with Ki values of 0.72 and 170 pM, respectively The corresponding values for PRI delta 6 are 22 and 43 pM, respectively. Since recombinant PRI to angiogenin and RNase A with Ki values of 0.29 and 68 fM, respectively, deletion of repeats 3 plus 4 weakens both interactions 2500-fold while deletion of repeat 6 weakens them 76,000- and 630-fold, respectively. Therefore, either the deletion of these repeats has altered the conformation of the angiogenin/RNase binding site in PRI or the deleted repeats contribute directly to the binding site, or both. In addition, the tighter binding to angiogenin versus RNase A seen with native PRI has been preserved in PRI delta 3-4 but has been almost completely abolished in PRI delta 6.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)