Solution structure of hirsutellin A – new insights into the active site and interacting interfaces of ribotoxins Aldino Viegas1, Elias Herrero-Gala´ n2, Mercedes On˜ aderra2, Anjos L. Macedo1 and Marta Bruix3 1 REQUIMTE-CQFB, Departemento de Quimica, Faculdade de Cieˆ ncias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal 2 Departemento de Bioquı´mica y Biologı´a Molecular I, Facultad de Quı´mica, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain 3 Departemento de Espectroscopı´a y Estructura Molecular, Instituto de Quı´mica Fı´sica ‘Rocasolano’, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid, Spain Keywords Hirsutellin (HtA) is intermediate in size between other ribotoxins and less cytotoxic protein; NMR; ribonucleases; specific microbial RNases, and thus offers a unique chance to determine RNase T1; structure; a-sarcin the minimal structural requirements for activities unique to ribotoxins. Here, we have determined the structure of HtA by NMR methods. The Correspondence M. Bruix, Departamento de Espectroscopı´a structure consists of one a-helix, a helical turn and seven b-strands that y Estructura Molecular, Instituto de Quı´mica form an N-terminal hairpin and an anti-parallel b-sheet, with a characteris- Fı´sica ‘Rocasolano’, Serrano 119, 28006 tic a + b fold and a highly positive charged surface. Compared to its Madrid, Spain larger homolog a-sarcin, the N-terminal hairpin is shorter and less posi- Fax ⁄ Tel: +34 91 561 94 00 tively charged. The secondary structure elements are connected by large E-mail:
[email protected] loops with root mean square deviation (rmsd) values > 1 A˚, suggesting some degree of intrinsically dynamic behavior. The active site architecture Database Structural data has been submitted to the of HtA is unique among ribotoxins.