Effect of Spermine, Ethylenediamine Tetraacetate, Urea, and High Salt on the Activity of Ribonuclease SPL on Mg²⁺-Containing Undenatured Total E. coli and Rat Liver RNAs

抄録

Using RNAase SPL, a recently described nuclease from bovine seminal plasma, that can recognize certain Mg²⁺-dependent structural features in native naturally occurring RNAs, it is shown that these features are wholly or partially destroyed by 8M urea, 1mM spermine, 0.35M KCl or NaCl, and 10mM EDTA, urea and spermine being the most effective and EDTA the least; these features are not destroyed by heating and rapid cooling unless a medium with a high ionic strength is used. Since the buffer used so far for reconstitution of ribosomes contains 0.35M KCl, it seems possible that a partial opening up of ribosomal RNAs may be necessary for ribosome assembly.