Amino leucine

C(,Hi3N02, CH3 CH2-CHMe-CHNH2-COOH. Colourless crystals, m.p. 284 C (decomp.). The naturally occurring substance is dextrorotatory. An amino-acid, occurring with leucine as a product of protein hydroly-... 

Water-soluble globular proteins usually have an interior composed almost entirely of non polar, hydrophobic amino acids such as phenylalanine, tryptophan, valine and leucine witl polar and charged amino acids such as lysine and arginine located on the surface of thi molecule. This packing of hydrophobic residues is a consequence of the hydrophobic effeci which is the most important factor that contributes to protein stability. The molecula basis for the hydrophobic effect continues to be the subject of some debate but is general considered to be entropic in origin. Moreover, it is the entropy change of the solvent that i... 

All the amino-acids of physiological importance are a-amino-acids, e.g. (in addition to the above compounds), alanine or a-amino-propionk acid, CHaCH(NH,)COOH, and leucine or a-amino-Y-dimethyl-rt-butyric acid, (CH,)aCHCH,CH(NHa)COOH, and naturally occurring samples (except glycine) are therefore optically active. 

The influence of a large number of oc-amino acids on the values of and k at have been determined. These a-amino acids included glycine, L-valine, L-leucine, L-phenylalanine, L-tyrosine, L-tryptophan, NOrmethyl-L-tryptophan (L-abrine), N-methyl-L-tyrosine, N,N-dimethyl-L-tyrosine and p -me thoxy-N-me thyl -L -phenyl al anine. 

Metabolic Functions. Zinc is essential for the function of many enzymes, either in the active site, ie, as a nondialyzable component, of numerous metahoenzymes or as a dialyzable activator in various other enzyme systems (91,92). WeU-characterized zinc metahoenzymes are the carboxypeptidases A and B, thermolysin, neutral protease, leucine amino peptidase, carbonic anhydrase, alkaline phosphatase, aldolase (yeast), alcohol... 

Evidence soon emerged that the endogenous opioids were peptides rather than simple morphine-like molecules (9). The first direct evidence for endogenous opioids in brain extracts was provided in 1975 when two pentapeptides were purified that differed only in the carboxyl terminal amino acids (10) (Table 1). These peptides were called methionine- (Met-) and leucine- (Leu-) enkephalin, from the Greek term meaning "in the head."... 

The amino acids L-leucine, T-phenylalanine, L-tyrosine, and L-tryptophan all taste bitter, whereas their D-enantiomers taste sweet (5) (see Amino ACIDS). D-Penicillamine [52-67-5] a chelating agent used to remove heavy metals from the body, is a relatively nontoxic dmg effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, but T.-penicillamine [1113-41 -3] produces optic atrophy and subsequent blindness (6). T.-Penicillamine is roughly eight times more mutagenic than its enantiomer. Such enantioselective mutagenicity is likely due to differences in renal metaboHsm (7). (R)-ThaHdomide (3) is a sedative—hypnotic (3)-thaHdomide (4) is a teratogen (8). 

Cottonseed. When compared with FAO/WHO/UNU essential amino acid requirements (see Table 3), cottonseed proteins are low in lysine, threonine, and leucine for 2 to 5-year-old children, yet meet all requirements for adults. 

Sundower Seed. Compared to the FAO/WHO/UNU recommendations for essential amino acids, sunflower proteins are low in lysine, leucine, and threonine for 2 to 5-year-olds but meet all the requirements for adults (see Table 3). There are no principal antinutritional factors known to exist in raw sunflower seed (35). However, moist heat treatment increases the growth rate of rats, thereby suggesting the presence of heat-sensitive material responsible for growth inhibitions in raw meal (72). Oxidation of chlorogenic acid may involve reaction with the S-amino group of lysine, thus further reducing the amount of available lysine. 

Mutation. For industrial appHcations, mutations are induced by x-rays, uv irradiation or chemicals (iiitrosoguanidine, EMS, MMS, etc). Mutant selections based on amino acid or nucleotide base analogue resistance or treatment with Nystatin or 2-deoxyglucose to select auxotrophs or temperature-sensitive mutations are easily carried out. Examples of useful mutants are strains of Candida membranefaciens, which produce L-threonine Hansenu/a anomala, which produces tryptophan or strains of Candida lipolytica that produce citric acid. An auxotrophic mutant of S. cerevisiae that requires leucine for growth has been produced for use in wine fermentations (see also Wine). This yeast produces only minimal quantities of isoamyl alcohol, a fusel oil fraction derived from leucine by the Ehrlich reaction (10,11). A mutant strain of bakers yeast with cold-sensitive metaboHsm shows increased stabiUty and has been marketed in Japan for use in doughs stored in the refrigerator (12). 

Ubenimex, [(2(3),3(R))-3-amino-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutanoyl]-L-leucine, was isolated as an inhibitor of aminopeptidases, on which it acts as a strong, reversible transition-state analogue inhibitor (293). Analogues of ubenimex have been made and some other aminopeptidase inhibitors, not all of them peptides, have been isolated from streptomycetes (294—296). 

Most of the naturally-occurring pyrazine hydroxamic acids appear to be derived from valine, leucine and isoleucine, and biosynthetic studies by MacDonald and coworkers (61JBC(236)512, 62JBC(237)1977, 65JBC(240)1692) indicate that these amino acids are incorporated. However, it would seem that the logical intermediates, viz. the 2,5-dioxopiperazines such as (111) and (112), are not always incorporated. This does not rule out their intermediacy, as there may be problems such as low solubility or membrane permeability which prevent their efficient incorporation. An exception to these results was reported for pulcherrimic acid (113) (65BJ(96)533), which has been shown to be derived from cyclo-L-leu-L-leu which serves as an efficient precursor. 

Figure 4.10 Consensus amino acid sequence and secondary structure of the leucine-rich motifs of type A and type B. "X" denotes any...

The basic structural unit of these two-sheet p helix structures contains 18 amino acids, three in each p strand and six in each loop. A specific amino acid sequence pattern identifies this unit namely a double repeat of a nine-residue consensus sequence Gly-Gly-X-Gly-X-Asp-X-U-X where X is any amino acid and U is large, hydrophobic and frequently leucine. The first six residues form the loop and the last three form a p strand with the side chain of U involved in the hydrophobic packing of the two p sheets. The loops are stabilized by calcium ions which bind to the Asp residue (Figure S.28). This sequence pattern can be used to search for possible two-sheet p structures in databases of amino acid sequences of proteins of unknown structure. 

The leucine zipper motif (see Chapter 3) was first recognized in the amino acid sequences of a yeast transcription factor GCN4, the mammalian transcription factor C/EBP, and three oncogene products, Fos, Jun and Myc, which also act as transcription factors. When the sequences of these proteins are plotted on a helical wheel, a remarkable pattern of leucine residues... 

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