short communications
Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is a zinc-containing enzyme that catalyzes the reversible hydration of CO2 to HCO. In eukaryotes, the enzyme plays a role in various physiological functions, including interconversion between CO2 and HCO in intermediary metabolism, facilitated diffusion of CO2, pH homeostasis and ion transport. The structure of bovine carbonic anhydrase II (BCA II) has been determined by molecular replacement and refined to 1.95 Å resolution by simulated-annealing and individual B-factor refinement. The final R factor for the BCA II structure was 19.4%. BCA II has a C-terminal knot structure similar to that observed in human CA II. It contains one zinc ion in the active site coordinated to three histidines and one putative water molecule in a tetrahedral geometry. The structure of BCA II reveals a probable alternative proton-wire pathway that differs from that of HCA II.