T. Ubuka, PROTEIN DISULFIDE ISOMERASE-CATALYZED RENATURATION OF RIBONUCLEASE-A MODIFIED BY S-THIOLATION WITH GLUTATHIONE AND CYSTEINE, Biochemistry and molecular biology international, 38(6), 1996, pp. 1103-1110
Renaturation of modified ribonuclease A by protein disulfide isomerase
was studied. The renaturation rate of fully S-thiolated ribonuclease
A with glutathione, namely, ribonuclease A-glutathione mixed disulfide
(RNase-SG) containing 8 moles of glutathione per mole of ribonuclease
A (RNase-SG8), by protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) was more than thr
ee times faster than those of fully S-thiolated RNase with L-cysteine
and scrambled ribonuclease A. Renaturation of RNase-SG species contain
ing 7 or less glutathione was slower than that of RNase-SG8. These dat
a seems to favor the hypothesis that S-thiolation of nascent proteins
with glutathione may occur in the folding process during protein synth
esis. The applicability of the present method consisted of chemical S-
thiolation and PDI-catalyzed renaturation to the in vitro folding of r
ecombinant cysteine-containing proteins is discussed.