Tertiary Structure of Plant RuBisCo: Domains and their Contacts
Abstract
The three-dimensional structure of ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO), has been determined at 2.6 angstrom resolution. This enzyme initiates photosynthesis by combining carbon dioxide with ribulose bisphosphate to form two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate. In plants, RuBisCO is built from eight large (L) and eight small (S) polypeptide chains, or subunits. Both S chains and the NH2-terminal domain (N) of L are antiparallel β , ``open-face-sandwich'' domains with four-stranded β sheets and flanking α helices. The main domain (B) of L is an α /β barrel containing most of the catalytic residues. The active site is in a pocket at the opening of the barrel that is partly covered by the N domain of a neighboring L chain. The domain contacts of the molecule and its conserved residues are discussed in terms of this structure.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- July 1988
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.3133767
- Bibcode:
- 1988Sci...241...71C