Staphylococcal nuclease reviewed: A prototypic study in contemporary enzymology

Abstract

This is the third in a series of four articles in which the chemical, enzymological and crystallographic work on Ribonucleate (deoxribonucleate)-3′-nucleotidohydrolase, EC 3.1.4.4 (staphylococcal nuclease, micrococcal nuclease) will be reviewed and correlated. This article describes the structure of the nuclease and of a nuclease-inhibitor complex as determined by x-ray crystallography. The crystal structures are correlated with some of the known chemical and enzymological properties of the enzyme, and the three areas combined to propose a mechanism of action.