Chemically methanethiosulfonate

A combination of circular dichroism, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, chemical crosslinking, and analytical ultracentrifugation studies showed that both the apo- and metallated derivatives of H21(31-mer) form two-stranded a-helical coiled coils in aqueous solution. Further characterization of these derivatives by EPR spin-label experiments helped to determine its three-dimensional backbone structure. In these studies, a Cys-21 mutant of the 31-mer coiled coil, H21/C21(31-mer), was prepared and labeled with a thiol-specific nltroxide spin label (MTSL = l-oxyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-A -pyrroline-3-methyl-methanethiosulfonate) at position 21 of the peptide sequence which is the site of metal substitution in the ET heterodimer. Comparison of the low-temperature, dipolar-broadened spectrum of the spin-labeled dimer with those of magnetically dilute peptide samples yielded a backbone-to-backbone distance that was nearly identical to that of the GCN4 homodimer. Based on these results, computer modeling studies provided an estimate of the metal-to-metal distance in the ET heterodimer of m-m > 25 A. The electron-transfo properties of this system are now being studied by a combination of laser flash-quench and pulse radiolysis techniques. 

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