Circular polypeptides

Amino acid sequences of eleven homologous sea anemone polypeptides have been elucidated. All possess three disulfide bonds. The six half-cysteine residues always occur in the same positions (7,8). Initial studies concerning the toxin secondary and tertiary structures relied upon circular dichroism, laser Raman, and, to a lesser extent, fluorescence spectral measurements (15—18). The circular dichroism spectra of the four toxins so far examined are essentially superimpos-able and thus indicate a common secondary structure. The only peak observed, a negative ellipticity at 203 nm, largely results from a non-regular ("random")... 

A. Evidence from Circular Dichroism Studies Early CD Studies on Polypeptides... 

The influence of adsorption on the structure of a -chymotrypsin is shown in Fig. 10, where the circular dichroism (CD) spectrum of the protein in solution is compared with that of the protein adsorbed on Teflon and silica. Because of absorbance in the far UV by the aromatic styrene, it is impossible to obtain reliable CD spectra of proteins adsorbed on PS and PS- (EO)8. The CD spectrum of a protein reflects its composition of secondary structural elements (a -helices, / -sheets). The spectrum of dissolved a-chymotrypsin is indicative of a low content of or-helices and a high content of //-sheets. After adsorption at the silica surface, the CD spectrum is shifted, but the shift is much more pronounced when the protein was adsorbed at the Teflon surface. The shifts are in opposite directions for the hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, respectively. The spectrum of the protein on the hydrophilic surface of silica indicates a decrease in ordered secondary structure, i.e., the polypeptide chain in the protein has an increased random structure and, hence, a larger conformational entropy. Adsorption on the hydrophobic Teflon surface induces the formation of ordered structural elements, notably an increase in the content of O -helices (cfi, the discussion in Sect. 3.1.4). 

A prime example of a Refolding model is that of the insulin protofilament (Jimenez et al., 2002). Insulin is a polypeptide hormone composed of two peptide chains of mainly o -helical secondary structure (Fig. 3A Adams et al., 1969). Its chains (21- and 30-amino acids long) are held together by 3 disulfide bonds, 2 interchain and 1 intrachain (Sanger, 1959). These bonds remain intact in the insulin amyloid fibrils of patients with injection amyloidosis (Dische et al., 1988). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and circular dichroic (CD) spectroscopy indicate that a conversion to jS-structure accompanies insulin fibril formation (Bouchard et al., 2000). The fibrils also give a cross-jS diffraction pattern (Burke and Rougvie, 1972). 

Photochemically Triggered Induced Circular Dichroism in Liposomes When an optically inactive chromophore is subject to the effect of optically active environment, optical activity may be induced at the absorption wavelength of the optically inactive chromophore. This phenomenon of induced circular dichroism(ICD) is often observed in polypeptides bearing various achiral chromophores on the side chain( ). The strong chiral environment caused by the peptide helix structure is responsible for this. Distance from, and orientation to, the chiral field decide the degree of ICD appearing on the achiral chromophore. 

In 1979, Ross et al 22i" measured the ODMR of tyrosine in glucagon and the derivative [12-homoarginine]glucagon to examine the effect of chemical modification of a lysine residue adjacent to Tyr-10 and Tyr-13. The guanidinated analogue had lower potency than glucagon in a fat cell hormone receptor assay. Since the tyrosine ODMR and other spectral properties of the polypeptide, including circular dichroism, were essentially identical, it was... 

Scanu, A. M., The effect of reduction and carboxymethylation on the circular dichroic spectra of pure polypeptide classes of serum high density lipoproteins. BwMm. Biophys. Acta 200, 570-572 (1970). 

The characteristic ratio of polylA -ro-hydroxyethyl-L-glutamine) in water at 303 K is found to be 10 1, in agreement with results obtained by Brant and Flory [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1965, 87, 2791) for four other polypeptides with -CH2—R side chains. The circular dichroism of polylA -m-hydroxyethyl-L-glutamine) under these conditions, where the polypeptide is in a statistical conformation, exhibits a positive band at 216 nm. 

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