Domains in bovine seminal ribonuclease

Bovine seminal ribonuclease is the only pancreatic-type ribonuclease to possess a dimeric structure: the two identical subunits are covalently linked by two disulfide bridges. Actually, the protein exists in two different dimeric structures owing to the possibility of swapping the N-terminal α-helical segments: the swapped MxM dimer, and the non-swapped M=M dimer. The thermal denaturation of the two separated forms is investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The process is reversible and can be represented by two sequential two-state transitions, indicating the presence of two domains in BS-RNase, regardless of the swapping phenomenon. Inspection of the structural models leads to the tentative identification of an external domain and a core domain, the latter more stable.