
A docking interaction study of the effect of critical mutations in ribonuclease A on protein-ligand binding
Enzymes with ribonucleolytic activity play a pivotal role in gene expression and cellular homeostasis by altering the levels of cellular RNA. Ribonuclease A has been the most well studied of such enzymes whose histidine residues (His12 and His119) play a crucial role in the catalytic mechanism of the protein. The ligands chosen for this study, 2′CMP and 3′CMP, act as competitive substrate analog inhibitors of this enzyme. Using molecular graphics software freely available for academic use, AutoDock and PyMoI, we demonstrate that substitution of either histidine residue by alanine causes marked changes in the distances between these critical residues of the enzyme. The ligands in the docked conformation (particularly on mutation of His119 to Ala) compensate for the altered free energy and hydrogen bonding abilities in these new protein-ligand complexes. © 2005 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
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Related Subject Headings
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- 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
- 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy
- 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
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Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Education
- 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
- 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy
- 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology