The stereochemical code and the logic of a protein molecule

1969 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Liquori

Like DNA and the various forms of RNA, a protein molecule is an information storage system. It contains in fact one or more polypeptide chains which may be regarded as linear sequences of twenty different types of monomer units. It is now clearly established that the chemical information corresponding to a given sequence of a polypeptide chain, containing n amino acid residues, is stored in a segment of one of the two strands of DNA containing 3n nucleotides. The transfer of such information from a gene to a polypeptide chain takes place according to the well-known process involving a transcription and a chemical translation step. This last step leads to a polymer which, in appropriate conditions, takes a three-dimensional conformation or tertiary structure which should correspond to a free-energy minimum of the molecule and its surrounding water solution.

Astbury’s studies of α-keratin, and X-ray studies of crystalline haemoglobin and myoglobin by Perutz and Kendrew, agree in indicating some form of folded polypeptide chain which has a repeat distance of about 5·1 Å, with three amino-acid residues per repeat. In this paper a systematic survey has been made of chain models which conform to established bond lengths and angles, and which are held in a folded form by N—H—O bonds. After excluding the models which depart widely from the observed repeat distance and number of residues per repeat, an attempt is made to reduce the number of possibilities still further by comparing vector diagrams of the models with Patterson projections based on the X-ray data. When this comparison is made for two-dimensional Patterson projections on a plane at right angles to the chain, the evidence favours chains of the general type proposed for a-keratin by Astbury. These chains have a dyad axis with six residues in a repeat distance of 10·2 Å, and are composed of approximately coplanar folds. As a further test, these chains are placed in the myoglobin structure, and a comparison is made between calculated and observed F values for a zone parallel to the chains; the agreement is remarkably close taking into account the omission from the calculations of the unknown effect of the side-chains. On the other hand, a study of the three-dimensional Patterson of haemoglobin shows how cautious one must be in accepting this agreement as significant. Successive portions of the rod of high vector density which has been supposed to represent the chains give widely different projections and show no evidence of a dyad axis. The evidence is still too slender for definite conclusions to be drawn, but it indicates that a further intensive study of these proteins, and in particular of myoglobin which has promising features of simplicity, may lead to a determination of the chain structure.


1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 803-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Kluh ◽  
Ladislav Morávek ◽  
Manfred Pavlík

Cyanogen bromide fragment CB5 represents the region of the polypeptide chain of hemopexin between the fourth and fifth methionine residue (residues 232-352). It contains 120 amino acid residues in the following sequence: Arg-Cys-Ser-Pro-His-Leu-Val-Leu-Ser-Ala-Leu-Thr-Ser-Asp-Asn-His-Gly-Ala-Thr-Tyr-Ala-Phe-Ser-Gly-Thr-His-Tyr-Trp-Arg-Leu-Asp-Thr-Ser-Arg-Asp-Gly-Trp-His-Ser-Trp-Pro-Ile-Ala-His-Gln-Trp-Pro-Gln-Gly-Pro-Ser-Ala-Val-Asp-Ala-Ala-Phe-Ser-Trp-Glu-Glu-Lys-Leu-Tyr-Leu-Val-Gln-Gly-Thr-Gln-Val-Tyr-Val-Phe-Leu-Thr-Lys-Gly-Gly-Tyr-Thr-Leu-Val-Ser-Gly-Tyr-Pro-Lys-Arg-Leu-Glu-Lys-Glu-Val-Gly-Thr-Pro-His-Gly-Ile-Ile-Leu-Asp-Ser-Val-Asp-Ala-Ala-Phe-Ile-Cys-Pro-Gly-Ser-Ser-Arg-Leu-His-Ile-Met. The sequence was derived from the data on peptides prepared by cleavage of fragment CB5 by mild acid hydrolysis, by trypsin and chymotrypsin.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 786
Author(s):  
Jiedong Ye ◽  
Junshuai Lv ◽  
Dongli Tan ◽  
Zhiqiang Ai ◽  
Zhiqiang Feng

The NH3 uniformity and conversion rate produced by the urea–water solution spray system is an essential factor affecting de-NOx efficiency. In this work, a three-dimensional simulation model was developed with the CFD software and was employed to investigate the effects of two typical injection methods (wall injection and center injection) and three distribution strategies (pre-mixer, post-mixer, pre-mixer, and post-mixer) of two typical mixers on the urea conversion rate and uniformity. The field synergy principle was employed to analyze the heat transfer of different mixer flow fields. The results show that the single mixer has instability in optimizing different injection positions due to different injection methods and injection positions. The dual-mixer is stable in the optimization of the flow field under different conditions. The conclusion of the field synergy theory of the single mixer accords with the simulation result. The Fc of the dual-mixer cases is low, but the NH3 conversion and uniformity index rate are also improved due to the increase in the residence time of UWS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4349
Author(s):  
Eri Chatani ◽  
Keisuke Yuzu ◽  
Yumiko Ohhashi ◽  
Yuji Goto

Amyloid fibrils are supramolecular protein assemblies represented by a cross-β structure and fibrous morphology, whose structural architecture has been previously investigated. While amyloid fibrils are basically a main-chain-dominated structure consisting of a backbone of hydrogen bonds, side-chain interactions also play an important role in determining their detailed structures and physicochemical properties. In amyloid fibrils comprising short peptide segments, a steric zipper where a pair of β-sheets with side chains interdigitate tightly is found as a fundamental motif. In amyloid fibrils comprising longer polypeptides, each polypeptide chain folds into a planar structure composed of several β-strands linked by turns or loops, and the steric zippers are formed locally to stabilize the structure. Multiple segments capable of forming steric zippers are contained within a single protein molecule in many cases, and polymorphism appears as a result of the diverse regions and counterparts of the steric zippers. Furthermore, the β-solenoid structure, where the polypeptide chain folds in a solenoid shape with side chains packed inside, is recognized as another important amyloid motif. While side-chain interactions are primarily achieved by non-polar residues in disease-related amyloid fibrils, the participation of hydrophilic and charged residues is prominent in functional amyloids, which often leads to spatiotemporally controlled fibrillation, high reversibility, and the formation of labile amyloids with kinked backbone topology. Achieving precise control of the side-chain interactions within amyloid structures will open up a new horizon for designing useful amyloid-based nanomaterials.


Myoglobin from the common seal ( Phoca vitulina ) when crystallized from ammonium sulphate forms monoclinic crystals with space group the unit cell, a = 57·9Å, b = 29·6Å, c = 106·4Å, β = 102°15', contains four molecules. The method of isomorphous replacement has been used in an investigation of the centrosymmetric b -axis projection in which it has been possible to determine signs for nearly all the h0l reflexions having spacings greater than 4Å. Three independent heavy-atom derivatives were employed and the signs so determined have been used to compute a map of the electron density projected on the (010) plane. This projection has been interpreted in terms of the molecule of sperm-whale myoglobin, as deduced by Bodo, Dintzis, Kendrew & Wyckoff (1959) from a three-dimensional Fourier synthesis to 6Å resolution. The results of the interpretation show that the two myoglobin molecules are very similar in form (tertiary structure) in spite of the differences in their amino-acid composition. The relative orientation of the two unit cells with respect to the myoglobin molecule is given and a comparison is made of the positions of the heavy atoms in each molecule.


1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 949-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN P. PRIESTLE ◽  
HANS-PETER SCHÄR ◽  
MARKUS G. GRÜTTER

Summary The three-dimensional structure of human recombinant interleukin-1β has been determined at 0.24 nm resolution by X-ray crystallographic techniques. The partially refined model has a crystallographic R-factor of just under 19%. The structure is composed of 12 β-strands forming a complex network of hydrogen bonds. The core of the structure can best be described as a tetrahedron whose edges are each formed by two antiparallel β-strands. The interior of this structure is filled with hydrophobic side-chains. There is a 3-fold repeat in the folding of the polypeptide chain. Although this folding pattern suggests gene triplication, no significant internal sequence homology between topologically corresponding residues exists. The folding topology of interleukin-1β is very similar to that described by A. D. McLachlan [(1979) J. Mol. Biol. 133, 557–563] for soybean trypsin inhibitor.


1978 ◽  
Vol 176 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Päivi Lehtovaara ◽  
Ulla Perttilä

The coupled oxidation of leghaemoglobins with O2 and ascorbate yielded oxyleghaemoglobin in the first reaction step, and the second step was the degradation of haem characterized by an A675 increase. Leghaemoglobins were degraded to biliverdin isomers specifically, depending on the structure of the protein. The main leghaemoglobin components of Glycine (soya bean) and Phaseolus (kidney bean) were degraded to biliverdin mixtures containing about 50% of the β-form, about 30% of the α-form and about 20% of the δ-isomer, whereas the leghaemoglobin I components of Vicia (broad bean) and Pisum (pea) were degraded almost exclusively to the β-isomer, with traces of the α-isomer. The amino acid sequences of Glycine and Phaseolus leghaemoglobins resemble each other, as do those of Vicia and Pisum. The site specificity of bile-pigment formation from leghaemoglobins can be tentatively explained by specific differences in the amino acid sequences at those regions of the polypeptide chain that are in the vicinity of the appropriate methine bridges. The ligand-binding site in different leghaemoglobins may be outlined on the basis of the present results, supposing that the haem is degraded when a reduction product of haem-bound O2 reacts with a methine bridge of the haem, and that the bridge specificity is regulated by hindering amino acid residues that determine the location of the bound O2. The residue phenylalanine-CD1 appears to be further away from the haem plane or in a markedly more flexible position in leghaemoglobins than in mammalian globins. The haem-bound oxygen atom B, in Fe–O(A)–O(B), seems to be free to rotate in all directions except that of the γ-bridge in Glycine and Phaseolus leghaemoglobins, but its position in Vicia and Pisum leghaemoglobin I might be restricted to the direction of the β-methine bridge.


Triose phosphate isomerase is a dimeric enzyme of molecular mass 56000 which catalyses the interconversion of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. The crystal structure of the enzyme from chicken muscle has been determined at a resolution of 2.5 A, and an independent determination of the structure of the yeast enzyme has just been completed at 3 A resolution. The conformation of the polypeptide chain is essentially identical in the two structures, and consists of an inner cylinder of eight strands of parallel |3-pleated sheet, with mostly helical segments connecting each strand. The active site is a pocket containing glutamic acid 165, which is believed to act as a base in the reaction. Crystallographic studies of the binding of DHAP to both the chicken and the yeast enzymes reveal a common mode of binding and suggest a mechanism for catalysis involving polarization of the substrate carbonyl group.


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