Ribonuclease L (RNase L) is an important effector of the innate antiviral response. Mutations or variants that impair function of RNase L, particularly R462Q, have been proposed as susceptibility factors for prostate cancer. Given the role of this gene in viral defense, we sought to explore the possibility that a viral infection might contribute to prostate cancer in individuals harboring the R...

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) and RNase MRP are closely related ribonucleoprotein enzymes, which process RNA substrates including tRNA precursors for RNase P and 5.8 S rRNA precursors, as well as some mRNAs, for RNase MRP. The structures of RNase P and RNase MRP have not yet been solved, so it is unclear how the proteins contribute to the structure of the complexes and how substrate specificity is d...

A novel method of RNA secondary structure prediction based on a comparison of nucleotide sequences is described. This method correctly predicts nearly all evolutionarily conserved secondary structures of five different RNAs: tRNA, 5S rRNA, bacterial ribonuclease P (RNase P) RNA, eukaryotic small subunit rRNA, and the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the Drosophila bicoid (bcd) mRNA. Furthermore,...

A yeast two-hybrid system was used to identify protein-protein interactions between the ribonuclease P (RNase P) protein subunits Mth11p, Mth687p, Mth688p and Mth1618p from the archaeon Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus. Clear interactions between Mth688p and Mth687p, and between Mth1618p and Mth11p, were confirmed by HIS3 and LacZ reporter expression. Weaker interactions of Mth687p and M...

Several specific modifications, both proteolytic and chemical, have been performed on RNase A. The ability of each of these RNase A derivatives to bind the human placental RNase inhibitor has been determined in competition binding assays. The interaction depends upon the native conformation of the enzyme. Loss of active site residues His-12 and His-119, along with auxiliary residues Lys-7, Phe-...

We have described three RNases in wheat leaves (Triticum aestlvum L. cv Chinese Spring) and developed assays for measuring each RNase individually in crude leaf extracts. We initially used activity staining in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels to characterize RNases in extracts of primary and flag leaves. We thus identified acid RNase (EC 3.1.27.1, here designated RNase WLA), and two a...

The 5'-terminal methylated cap (m7G(5')ppp(5')Gm) in reovirus messenger RNA comprises part of the ribosomes binding site, since attachment of 40 S wheat germ ribosomal subunits to reovirus small (s), medium (m), and large (l) RNA classes conferred almost complete protection of the cap against RNase digestion. After joining of the 60 S ribosomal subunits, however, the cap continued to be protect...