Structural Studies on the Interactions between Metal Ions and Biological Macromolecules

摘要

The essentia role of metal ions in biology is stressed by structural investigations on two metalloenzymes: human carbonic anhydrase (CA) and Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD). The X-ray structure of CA complex with histamine affords a satisfactory explanation of the mechanism of activation of CA. The high resolutin (1.02 A) crystal structure of a mutant monomeric Cu, Zn superoxide dismu- tase gives relevant information on the mechanism of the catalytic activity of the native dimeric enzyme and on the reduced activity of the monomer.