Hydrogen bonds peptide-like molecules

A biochemical curiosity is the presence in egg white of the glycoprotein avidin.ab Each 68-kDa subunit of this tetrameric protein binds one molecule of biotin tenaciously with Kf 1015 M 1. Nature s purpose in placing this unusual protein in egg white is uncertain. Perhaps it is a storage form of biotin, but it is more likely an antibiotic that depletes the environment of biotin. A closely similar protein streptavidin is secreted into the culture medium by Streptomyces avidinii.c Its sequence is homologous to that of avidin. It has a similar binding constant for biotin and the two proteins have similar three-dimensional structures.3/d i Biotin binds at one end of a P barrel formed from antiparallel strands and is held by multiple hydrogen bonds and a conformational alteration that allows a peptide loop to close over the bound vitamin. 

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