Toward an understanding of the folding of ribonuclease A

A mechanism was proposed several years ago for the regeneration of native ribonuclease A (EC 3.1.27.5) from the fully reduced form by a mixture of oxidized and reduced glutathiones. Several folding pathways, depending on the solution conditions, were deduced. It is shown here that recent criticisms of those results are due to a misinterpretation of the analysis of our data. A more detailed description of our method of analysis of our previous kinetic and energetic data is presented in order to clarify possible misconceptions.