Extended x-ray absorption fine structure studies of a retrovirus: equine infectious anemia virus cysteine arrays are coordinated to zinc.

Chance, M R; Sagi, I; Wirt, M D; Frisbie, S M; Scheuring, E; Chen, E; Bess, J W; Henderson, L E et al. · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 1992

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Zinc finger arrays have been established as a critical structural feature of proteins involved in DNA recognition. Retroviral nucleocapsid proteins, which are involved in the binding of viral RNA, contain conserved cysteine-rich arrays that have been suggested to coordinate zinc. We provide metalloprotein structural data from an intact virus preparation that validate this hypothesis. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy of well-characterized and active preparations of equine infectious anemia virus, compared with a peptide with known coordination and in combination with available biochemical and genetic data, defines a Cys3His1 coordination environment for zinc. The average of the Zn-S distances is 2.30(1) A and that of the Zn-N distance (to histidine) is 2.01(3) A.

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