Amino acids destabilization

It should be noted that in almost all cases only one fold exists for any given sequence. The uniqueness of the native state arises from the fact that the interactions that stabilize the native strucmre significantly destabilize alternate folds of the same amino acid sequence. That is, evolution has selected sequences with a deep energy minimum for the native state, thus eliminating misfolded or partly unfolded structures at physiological temperatures. 

The tendencies of the amino acids to stabilize or destabilize a-helices are different in typical proteins than in polyamino acids. The occurrence of the common amino acids in helices is summarized in Table 6.1. Notably, proline (and hydroxyproline) act as helix breakers due to their unique structure, which fixes the value of the —N—C bond angle. Helices can be formed from either... 

Destabilization of the ES complex can involve structural strain, desolvation, or electrostatic effects. Destabilization by strain or distortion is usually just a consequence of the fact (noted previously) that the enzyme is designed to bind the transition state more strongly than the substrate. When the substrate binds, the imperfect nature of the fit results in distortion or strain in the substrate, the enzyme, or both. This means that the amino acid residues that make up the active site are oriented to coordinate the transition-state structure precisely, but will interact with the substrate or product less effectively. 

Fig. 2.34 The two conformations free of destabilizing syn-pentane interaction [215, 216] in 2,4-disubstituted y-amino acid derivatives with like and unlike configuration. According to the nomenclature proposed by Balaram...

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