The crystal and molecular structure of trichosanthin at 2.6 A resolution.

The crystallographic refinement of trichosanthin has been performed at 2.6 A resolution. The crystal and molecular structure of trichosanthin is described in detail in this paper. On summarizing the regularity of the amino acid sequences of eight kinds of ribosome inactivating proteins and combining with the crystal and molecular structure of trichosanthin, fifteen most conservative amino acid residues are analyzed. It is found that four most conservative polar amino acid residues Gln156, Glu160, Arg163 and Glu189 gather on the molecular surface on the boundary of the large and small domains, thus forming the active center of the protein molecule.