RNA HYGIENE (PART III) – THE MIS-USE OF RNASE INHIBITOR PROTEINS
RNase Inhibitor proteins (RI) by their very nature have an unusual dichotomy. Although they can be quite effective in binding RNases and preventing RNA degradation, they can also be the cause of RNA degradation if they are mis-handled. Although this at first seems counter-intuitive, the explanation is very straight-forward. Some RNases (RNase A and RNase T1, for example) are extremely heat resistant. These proteins can be heated to 100°C and still retain most or at least some of their activity upon cooling. They consist of multiple disulfide bonds which provide conformational stability and catalytic activity. It is these bonds that