Goodsell Sandbox

Ribonuclease A cleaves RNA strands by catalyzing a transphosphorylation reaction where the 2'-OH of the ribose sugar attacks the neighboring phosphate, releasing the ribose on the the other side of the phosphate. This structure shows ribonuclease A (in blue) bound to short DNA strand composed of four thymidines (in pink). Ribonuclease binds tightly to DNA, but since DNA is missing the 2'-OH, ribonuclease does not cleave it. <scene name='Goodsell_Sandbox/Ribonuclease_catalytic_site/1'>Three amino acids</scene> are shown that are important for catalysis. The 3' carbon on the DNA is shown in red--it is the site where the 2'-OH is connected in RNA. The two histidines perform the proton transfers that are needed in the reaction, and the lysine stabilizes the intermediate that is formed as the 2'-OH attacks the phosphate. Ribonuclease cleaves cytidine and uridine best--the reason for this may be seen in a <scene name='Goodsell_Sandbox/Ribonuclease_recognition/1'>spacefilling representation</scene>. Notice that the small pyrimidine base is surrounded by protein atoms. A larger purine base would not fit well in this space.