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Structural biology

On stress and pressure

Nature volume 468, pages 46–47 (2010)Cite this article

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The protein angiotensinogen must undergo conformational changes to be cleaved into a precursor of the hormone angiotensin, which increases blood pressure. Oxidative stress seems to mediate this structural alteration. See Letter p.108

Numerous signals emanating from the kidney, blood vessels, heart and brain regulate blood pressure, with an imbalance between them causing altered blood pressure. One such prominent signalling pathway is the renin–angiotensin system. Renin is a protease enzyme that catalyses the rate-limiting step in this pathway — cleavage of ten amino-acid residues at the amino terminus of its only known substrate, angiotensinogen. The resulting peptide is further processed into a family of angiotensin peptide hormones, the best characterized of which, angiotensin II, increases blood pressure in various ways. On page 108 of this issue, Zhou et al.1 provide structural evidence for the way in which redox-based conformational changes in angiotensinogen expose the site cleaved by renin.

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Figure 1: The renin–angiotensin system.

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  1. Curt D. Sigmund is in the Department of Pharmacology, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. curt-sigmund@uiowa.edu,

    Curt D. Sigmund

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  1. Curt D. Sigmund
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Sigmund, C. On stress and pressure. Nature 468, 46–47 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/468046a

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