Protein Structure September 7, 12 2006
Basics of Protein Structure Primary structure: sequence Secondary structure: α-helix, -sheet, -strand, loop Supersecondary structure, motifs Tertiary structure: folding into functional domains with ordered structure composed of secondary structure elements Quaternary structure Complexes of monomers to form active structures
Amino acid
20 amino acids - the building blocks
Amino acid categories Aliphatic Valine, Alanine, Leucine and Isoleucine Aromatic Phenylalanine, Tyrosine and Tryptophan Charged Aspartic, Glutamic, Histidine, Lysine, Arginine Polar Serine, Threonine, Cysteine, Methionine, Asparagine, Glutamine Odd couple Glycine, Proline
Aliphatic residues
Aromatic Residues
Charged Residues Side-chains are charged under physiological conditions Acid are negatively charged Basic are positively charged
Polar Residues
The Odd Couple
Peptide-bond formation
Backbone torsion angles w f phi y psi omega 180° trans 0° cis
Ramachandran Plot
Other chemical bonds Disulfide bonds or bridges Formed by oxidation of thiol groups of two cysteines Form a bond about 2Å in length. Predominant feature in many small proteins H-bonds not truly covalent Dipolar attraction between O and H Complex geometry wrt distances and angles
Side Chain Conformation
Side Chain Torsion Angles The side chain torsion angles are named c1(chi1), c2(chi2), c3 (chi3), etc., as shown below for lysine.
Hydrophilic or hydrophobic…? Virtually all soluble proteins feature a hydrophobic core surrounded by a hydrophilic surface Peptide backbone is inherently polar Neutralize potential H-donors & acceptors using ordered secondary structure
Alpha helix H-bonds between N-H and C=O groups in polypeptide backbone Compact structure 3.6 residues Pitch: 5.6Å/turn Rise: 1.5Å/residue Polar/hydrophilic residues on 1 face with nonpolar or hydrophobic residues on other face
Secondary Structure: -helix 3.6 residues / turn Axial dipole moment Not Proline & Glycine Protein surfaces
Beta-sheet Extended structure Side-chains project alternately up or down Amphipathic is solvent exposed polar residues on one side and non-polar on other side
Secondary Structure: -sheets
Secondary Structure: -sheets Parallel or antiparallel Alternating side-chains No mixing Loops often have polar amino acids
Parallel -sheets:
Antiparallel -sheets:
Silk fibroin
Supersecondary structures Also called motifs Simple combinations of secondary structures
-hairpins
Two-residue -hairpins
Three-residue -hairpins
-meander
corners are observed to have a right-handed twist when viewed from the concave side
Helix hairpins
The corner
EF hand
motifs
Greek Key Motif
Tertiary Structure Combinations of motifs to form domains Three main classes All alpha Alpha/beta All beta
Alpha Domain Structures Four helix bundle Globin fold
Myohemeyrthrin
Cytochrome b452
Ferritin
Globins
Packing of helices
Alpha/beta TIM barrel Rossmann fold Horseshoe fold
TIM Barrel
Horseshoe Fold
Rossmann Fold
All Beta Up and down barrels Greek key barrels Jelly roll barrels
Up and down barrel retinol binding protein
Greek Key Barrel
Jellyroll barrel
Beta helix
Protein Structure Databases CATH - Protein Structure Classification hierarchical classification of protein domain structures UCL, Janet Thornton & Christine Orengo clusters proteins at four major levels: Class(C) Architecture(A) Topology(T) Homologous superfamily (H) [ http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/bsm/cath_new/ ]
Class(C) derived from secondary structure content is assigned automatically Architecture(A) describes the gross orientation of secondary structures, independent of connectivity. Topology(T) clusters structures according to their topological connections and numbers of secondary structures [ http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/bsm/cath_new/ ]
Quaternary Structure
Quaternary Structure
Quaternary Structure
References "Crystallization, X-ray studies, and site-directed cysteine mutagenesis of the DNA-binding domain of OmpR", E. Martínez-Hackert, S. Harlocker, M. Inouye, H. M. Berman and A. M. Stock, Journal/Protein Sci., 5:1429-1433, 1996. http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/ (School of Crystallography, Birkbeck, University of London) http://www.ebi.ac.uk/msd/roadshow.html (MSD-EBI Roadshow) "Introduction to protein structure", Brandon and Tooze, 3, 21, 1999.