Higher-ordered structures

Chromatin is composed of nucleosomes, where each comprise 147 base pairs of DNA wrapped around an octamer oftwo copies of each histone H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Nucleosomes are folded into higher-order structures that are stabilized by linker histones. Chromatin structure can be altered by enzymes that posttranslationally modify histones (e.g., through phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, or ubiquitination) or by ATP-driven chromatin-remodeling complexes that alter nucleosome position and/or composition. 

HIGHER-ORDER STRUCTURES PROVIDE FOR THE COMPACTION OF CHROMATIN... 

Figure 3 Examples of higher-order structure in proteins the a-helix and P-sheet.

The essential distinction between the approaches used to formulate and evaluate proteins, compared with conventional low molecular weight drugs, lies in the need to maintain several levels of protein structure and the unique chemical and physical properties that these higher-order structures convey. Proteins are condensation polymers of amino acids, joined by peptide bonds. The levels of protein architecture are typically described in terms of the four orders of structure [23,24] depicted in Fig. 2. The primary structure refers to the sequence of amino acids and the location of any disulfide bonds. Secondary structure is derived from the steric relations of amino acid residues that are close to one another. The alpha-helix and beta-pleated sheet are examples of periodic secondary structure. Tertiary... 

Currently, there exists an enormous and growing deficit between the number of polypeptides whose amino acid sequence has been determined and the numbers of polypeptides whose three-dimensional structure has been resolved. Given the complexities of resolving three-dimensional structure experimentally, it is not surprising that scientists are continually attempting to develop methods by which they could predict higher order structure from amino acid sequence data. Although modestly successful secondary structure predictive approaches have been developed, no method by which tertiary structure may be predicted from primary data has thus far been developed. 

Inoue, S. I., Magoshi, J., Tanaka, T., Magoshi, Y., and Becker, M. (2000b). Atomic force microscopy Bombyx mori silk fibroin molecules and their higher order structure. /. Polym. Sci. BPolym. Phys. 38, 1436-1439. 

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