SOME OBSERVATIONS ON RIBONUCLEASES FROM RYEGRASS

Abstract

A ribonuclease, extracted from ryegrass and partially purified, degraded ribonucleate to the cyclic nucleoside-2′:3′-phosphates of all four bases. Detailed studies of the kinetics of the enzyme showed that its activity was markedly dependent on the ionic strength of the solution and that its optimum pH decreased below pH 6.4 in solutions of increasing ionic strength or substrate concentration.A second enzyme found in the ryegrass extracts degraded ribonucleate to 5′-nucleotides and resembled the 3′-nucleotidase described previously.