Direct evidence for the deoxyribonuclease activity of the plant ribosome inactivating protein gelonin

Emmanuelle Nicolas, Joseph M. Beggs, Brett M. Haltiwanger, Theodore F. Taraschi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

Several plant ribotoxins, including gelonin, were reported to have additional weak nuclease activities on supercoiled DNA. The potential contribution of this activity to their cytotoxicity has not been given serious consideration due to concerns about contaminating nucleases in the protein preparations. We now report the degradation of single-stranded DNA by preparations of native plant gelonin and recombinant gelonin produced in E. coli. The DNase activity of both preparations is similarly modulated by zinc. An SDS-PAGE DNase assay identifies gelonin as the polypeptide responsible for deoxyribonuclease activity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)162-164
Number of pages3
JournalFEBS Letters
Volume406
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 7 1997

Keywords

  • DNA, Single-Stranded/drug effects
  • Deoxyribonucleases/metabolism
  • Plant Proteins/metabolism
  • Plants/metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins/metabolism
  • Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 1
  • Ribosomes/drug effects

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