1 H-n.m.r. studies on the existence of substrate binding sites in bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A

The reaction of ribonuclease A with either 6-chloropurine riboside 5′-monophosphate or the corresponding nucleoside yields one derivative, with the reagent covalently bound to the α-amino group of Lys-1, called derivative II and derivative E, respectively. We studied by means of ¹H-n.m.r. at 270 MHz the interaction of these derivatives with different purine ligands. The pK values of His-12- and -119 were obtained and compared with those resulting from the interaction with ribonuclease A. The results showed that the interaction of derivative E with 3′AMP is similar to that described for RNase A as the pK₂ of His-12 is increased while that of His-119 remains unaltered. However, derivative II presents some differences as it was found an enhancement of the pK₂ values of both His-12 and His-119. Interaction of derivative II and derivative E with dApdA increases the pK₂ of His-119, whereas a decrease is found when it interacts with ribonuclease A. These results suggest that the phosphate group and the nucleoside of both derivatives are located in regions of the enzyme where natural substrate analogues have secondary interactions and they can be interpreted as additional binding sites.