ISSN:
0006-3525
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Natural and synthetic peptides that contain detectable intramolecular α-helical structure in aqueous solution have been used to evaluate the helical propensities for the common amino acids. Experimental spectroscopic data must be fit to a model of the helix-coil transition in order to determine quantitative stability constants for each amino acid. We present here a statistical mechanical description of helix formation in peptides or protein fragments that takes into account multiple internal conformations, heterogeneity in the stabilizing effects of different side chains, and specific side-chain-side-chain interactions. The model enables one to calculate values of [θ]222 for a given peptide using the length dependence of the helix signal computed by a quantum mechanical treatment of the nπ* transition that dominates the 222-nm band. In addition, the helical probability at any residue in the chain is readily computed, and should prove useful as nmr spectral data become available. The free energy of specific side-chain interactions, including ion pair formation, can be evaluated. Application of the analysis to experimental data on a pair of isomeric peptides, only one of which contains ion pairs, indicates that forming a single glutamate-lysine ion pair stabilizes the α-helix by 0.50 kcal/mole in 10 mM sodium ion and pH 7. A survey of the CD data measured for a variety of model peptides is presented, indicating that a single set of s values and σ constant can account for some but not all of the available results.
Additional Material:
4 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bip.360311315
