Ribonuclease is a type of enzyme which catalyzes the breakdown of bonds in ribonucleic acid (RNA). It plays an important role in the regulation of protein production in cells. There are a wide variety of ribonucleases found throughout nature. The most thoroughly studied of these is bovine pancreatic ribonuclease. It was the first enzyme whose two dimensional and three dimensional structures were determined.

Bovine pancreatic ribonuclease has been extensively studied because it is a relatively small enzyme, abundant, and heat stable. It was first discovered in 1920 by W. Jones. He demonstrated that an extract from a bovine pancreas could hydrolyze yeast nucleic acid. In 1940, this ribonuclease was crystallized and isolated from the extract. It became the first enzyme for which structural information was obtained. Its primary structure was determined in 1962 and its three dimensional crystal structure was resolved by x-ray crystallography in 1967.

Ribonucleases help degrade ribonucleic acid (RNA...