Active-site histidine residues of bovine seminal RNase have been found to react with bromoacetic acid and with 2'(3')-O-bromoacetyluridine (BrAcUrd) at a much faster rate than free histidine. The former reagent reacts preferentially at the pros-N of His"', the latter is specific for the tele-N of His". Alkylation with bromoacetic acid is mutually exclusive for either His"' or His" and takes place predominantly at His"', while with BrAcUrd alkylation was found to be selective for His". These results are very similar to those obtained with the same reagents on RNase A, confirming that seminal and pancreatic ribonucleases have similar geometries at their active sites. On the other hand, the kinetics of reaction of bromoacetyluridine with seminal RNase reveal a 'half-of-the sites' reactivity of the enzyme for this reagent, which is found to discriminate between the two structurally identical active sites of the dimeric enzyme.Bovine seminal RNase (BS-RNase) is a dimeric enzyme, which displays non-hyperbolic saturation curves for the substrates of the second, rate-limiting step of the reaction, i.e. the hydrolysis of the pyrimidine nucleoside 2',3'-phosphates (cyclic) produced in the first reaction step [I]. Pancreatic RNase A shares with BS-RNase subunit a perfectly conserved active site, 80% of its primary structure and its three-dimensional structure [2, 31. Recently it has been reported that RNase A also displays non-hyperbolic kinetics when it is artifically dimerized [4].RNase A was the model protein for the pioneering studies of Stein, Moore and their coworkers on active-site mapping, carried out through the use of reagents selectively modifying residues at the active sites of enzymes [5-91. Their results, and those of other research groups [I0 -141, have led to the conclusion that alkylating reagents can selectively react with the active-site histidine residues of RNase A; they can also discriminate between His"', reacting at itspros-N, and His", reacting at its tele-N.The purpose of this study was twofold. We wished to prepare inactive derivatives of BS-RNase through selective modifications of active-site residues. The preparation of such derivatives and their characterization would be of particular Correspondence to G. D'Alessio, Dipartimento di Chimicas, Organica e Biologica, Universita di Napoli, Via Mezzocannone 16, 1-801 34 Napoli, ItalyAbbreviations. BS-RNase, bovine seminal ribonuclease; BrAcUrd, 2'(3')-O-bromoacetyluridine; Cm-His, carboxymethylhistidine; Cm-Cys, carboxymethylcysteine ; HPLC, high-performance liquid chromatography.Enzymes. Ribonuclease, pancreatic (EC 3.1.27.5); ribonuclease, seminal (EC 3.1.27.-).Note. The imidazole N closest to the propionyl side-chain of histidine, formerly designated as N-1, is termed pros, or x , and N-3 is termed tele, or 7 , according to IUPAC-IUB Recommendations [Eur.J. Biochem. 138, 13 (1984)l. value for studying both the peculiar regulatory properties of the enzyme and its interesting biological actions, such as its antispermatogenic [15] and antitumora...