RNaseA Nobel Prizes: Difference between revisions

Ribonuclease A has been the subject of Nobel Prizes on Protein Folding and Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis.<ref name="Raines"> PMID:11848924</ref> The observation of ribonuclease folding helped Christian Anfinsen win the Nobel Prize in 1972 for his work on protein folding <ref>'Anfinsen Nobel Lecture' [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1972/anfinsen-lecture.html]</ref>. The presence of four disulfide bonds and two ''cis'' proline residues in the structure of RNase A greatly affects the structure and folding kinetics of RNase A <ref>'Anfinsen Nobel Biography' [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1972/anfinsen-bio.html]</ref>. When RNase A undergoes reductive denaturation, it spontaneously folds back on itself to form the same structure.  The development of solid phase synthesis by Bruce Merrifield (Nobel Prize 1984) was a radical departure from traditional methods of bio-molecular synthesis that greatly increased efficiency. His method made possible the syntheses of much larger and more complex molecules; however, solid phase synthesis was not fully embraced until he demonstrated its full ability with the complete synthesis of Ribonuclease A.[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1984/merrifield-lecture.pdf]