Leucine residue

The leucine residues in this leucine-rich motif form a hydrophobic core between the P sheet and the a helices. Leucine residues 2, 5, and 7 (see Figure... 

Leucine residues 2, 5, 7, 12, 20, and 24 of the motif are invariant in both type A and type B repeats of the ribonuclease inhibitor. An examination of more than 500 tandem repeats from 68 different proteins has shown that residues 20 and 24 can be other hydrophobic residues, whereas the remaining four leucine residues are present in all repeats. On the basis of the crystal structure of the ribonuclease inhibitor and the important structural role of these leucine residues, it has been possible to construct plausible structural models of several other proteins with leucine-rich motifs, such as the extracellular domains of the thyrotropin and gonadotropin receptors. 

Figure 4.12 Schematic diagram illustrating the role of the conserved leucine residues (green) in the leucine-rich motif in stabilizing the P-loop-(x structural module. In the ribonuclease inhibitor, leucine residues 2, 5, and 7 from the P strand pack against leucine residues 17, 20, and 24 from the a helix as well as leucine residue 12 from the loop to form a hydrophobic core between the P strand and the a helix.

The horseshoe structure is formed by homologous repeats of leucine-rich motifs, each of which forms a p-loop-a unit. The units are linked together such that the p strands form an open curved p sheet, like a horseshoe, with the a helices on the outside of the p sheet and the inside exposed to solvent. The invariant leucine residues of these motifs form the major part of the hydrophobic region between the a helices and the p sheet. 

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... 

Describe the synthesis of the dipeptide Lys-Ala by Merrifield s solid phase chemical method of peptide synthesis. What pitfalls might be encountered if yon attempted to add a leucine residue to Lys-Ala to make a tripeptide ... 

A leucine zipper is a structural motif present in a large class of transcription factors. These dimeric proteins contain two extended alpha helices that grip the DNA molecule much like a pair of scissors at adjacent major grooves. The coiled-coil dimerization domain contains precisely spaced leucine residues which are required for the interaction of the two monomers. Some DNA-binding proteins with this general motif contain other hydrophobic amino acids in these positions hence, this structural motif is generally called a basic zipper. 

Figure 39-15. The leucine zipper motif. A shows a helical wheel analysis of a carboxyl terminal portion of the DNA binding protein C/EBP. The amino acid sequence is displayed end-to-end down the axis of a schematic a-helix. The helical wheel consists of seven spokes that correspond to the seven amino acids that comprise every two turns of the a-helix. Note that leucine residues (L) occur at every seventh position. Other proteins with "leucine zippers" have a similar helical wheel pattern. B is a schematic model of the DNA binding domain of C/EBP. Two identical C/EBP polypeptide chains are held in dimer formation by the leucine zipper domain of each polypeptide (denoted by the rectangles and attached ovals). This association is apparently required to hold the DNA binding domains of each polypeptide (the shaded rectangles) in the proper conformation for DNA binding. (Courtesy ofS McKnight)...

Fig. 5.7 Simplified schematic representation of a leucine zip . The leucine residues in the two a-helices (the symbols in the centre of the diagram) interact with each other...

After completion, the mixture was poured into ethyl acetate and the catalyst was removed by filtration using two filter papers in a Buchner funnel. The poly-D-leucine residue was washed with ethyl acetate (2 x 10 mL), with water (2 x 10 mL) and with brine (10 mL). 

Oxytocin, a peptide which initiates uterine contractions during labour is identical in structure to ADH except at position 8 where a leucine residue replaces arginine. The close structural similarity but radically different biological functions, illustrate how specific some hormone receptors are in recognising only their own signal . 

Figure 4. A history of the fluctuations in torsion angles 0 and of the leucine residue as a function of the time elapsed during the molecular dynamics simulation of GnRH.

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