P -strands

Fig. 10. Sequences (see Table 1) of betabeUins. In each case, only one-half of the P-sandwich is shown. The dimer is formed from identical monomeric sets of four P-strands. In the pattern sequence, e is for end, p is for polar residue, n is for nonpolar residue, and t and r are for turn residues. Lower case f is iodophenyialanine lower case a, d, k, and p are the D-amino acid forms of alanine, aspartic acid, lysine, and proline, respectively B is P-alanine (2,53,60,61).

Figure 1.1 The amino acid sequence of a protein s polypeptide chain is called Its primary structure. Different regions of the sequence form local regular secondary structures, such as alpha (a) helices or beta (P) strands. The tertiary structure is formed by packing such structural elements into one or several compact globular units called domains. The final protein may contain several polypeptide chains arranged in a quaternary structure. By formation of such tertiary and quaternary structure amino acids far apart In the sequence are brought close together in three dimensions to form a functional region, an active site.

Figure 2.5 Schematic illustrations of antiparallel (3 sheets. Beta sheets are the second major element of secondary structure in proteins. The (3 strands are either all antiparallel as in this figure or all parallel or mixed as illustrated in following figures, (a) The extended conformation of a (3 strand. Side chains are shown as purple circles. The orientation of the (3 strand is at right angles to those of (b) and (c). A p strand is schematically illustrated as an arrow, from N to C terminus, (bj Schematic illustration of the hydrogen bond pattern in an antiparallel p sheet. Main-chain NH and O atoms within a p sheet are hydrogen bonded to each other.

Beta (P) sheets usually have their p strands either parallel or antiparallel... 

Figure 2.7 (a) Illustration of the twist of (3 sheefs. Befa sfrands are drawn as arrows from the amino end to the carboxy end of the p strand in this schematic drawing of fhe protein thioredoxin from E. coli, fhe sfrucfure of which was defermined in the laboratory of Carl Branden, Uppsala, Sweden, fo 2.8 A resolution. The mixed p sheet is viewed from one of ifs ends, (b) The hydrogen bonds between the P strands in the mixed p sheet of fhe same profein. [(a) Adapfed from B. Furugren.]... 

Beta strands can also combine into mixed P sheets with some P strand pairs parallel and some antiparallel. There is a strong bias against mixed P sheets only about 20% of the strands inside the p sheets of known protein structures have parallel bonding on one side and antiparallel bonding on the other. Figure 2.7 illustrates how the hydrogen bonds between the p strands are arranged in a mixed P sheet. 

Loop regions exposed to solvent are rich in charged and polar hydrophilic residues. This has been used in several prediction schemes, and it has proved possible to predict loop regions from an amino acid sequence with a higher degree of confidence than a helices or p strands, which is ironic since the loops have irregular structures. 

Figure 2.8 Adjacent antiparallel P strands are joined by hairpin loops. Such loops are frequently short and do not have regular secondary structure. Nevertheless, many loop regions in different proteins have similar structures, (a) Histogram showing the frequency of hairpin loops of different lengths in 62 different proteins, (b) The two most frequently occurring two-residue hairpin loops Type I turn to the left and Type II turn to the right. Bonds within the hairpin loop are green, [(a) Adapted from B.L. Sibanda and J.M. Thornton, Nature 316 170-174, 1985.]...

Figure 2.15 The Greek key motif is found in antiparallel p sheets when four adjacent p strands are arranged in the pattern shown as a topology diagram in (a). The motif occurs in many p sheets and is exemplified here by the enzyme Staphylococcus nuclease (b). The four p strands that form this motif are colored red and blue.

The hairpin motif is a simple and frequently used way to connect two antiparallel p strands, since the connected ends of the p strands are close together at the same edge of the p sheet. How are parallel p strands connected If two adjacent strands are consecutive in the amino acid sequence, the two ends that must be joined are at opposite edges of the p sheet. The polypeptide chain must cross the p sheet from one edge to the other and connect the next p strand close to the point where the first p strand started. Such CTossover connections are frequently made by a helices. The polypeptide chain must turn twice using loop regions, and the motif that is formed is thus a p strand followed by a loop, an a helix, another loop, and, finally, the second p strand. 

This motif is called a beta-alpha-beta motif (Figure 2.17) and is found as part of almost every protein structure that has a parallel p sheet. For example, the molecule shown in Figure 2.10b, triosephosphate isomerase, is entirely built up by repeated combinations of this motif, where two successive motifs share one p strand. Alternatively, it can be regarded as being built up from four consecutive p-a-p-a motifs. 

Figure 2.17 Two adjacent parallel p strands are usually connected by an a helix from the C-termlnus of strand 1 to the N-termlnus of strand 2. Most protein structures that contain parallel p sheets are built up from combinations of such p-a-P motifs. Beta strands are red, and a helices are yellow. Arrows represent P strands, and cylinders represent helices, (a) Schematic diagram of the path of the main chain, (b) Topological diagrams of the P-a-P motif.

Secondary structure occurs mainly as a helices and p strands. The formation of secondary structure in a local region of the polypeptide chain is to some extent determined by the primary structure. Certain amino acid sequences favor either a helices or p strands others favor formation of loop regions. Secondary structure elements usually arrange themselves in simple motifs, as described earlier. Motifs are formed by packing side chains from adjacent a helices or p strands close to each other. 

Domains are formed by different combinations of secondary structure elements and motifs. The a helices and p strands of the motifs are adjacent to each other in the three-dimensional structure and connected by loop regions. Sequentially adjacent motifs, or motifs that are formed from consecutive regions of the primary structure of a polypeptide chain, are usually close together in the three-dimensional structure (Figure 2.20). Thus to a first approximation a polypeptide chain can be considered as a sequential arrangement of these simple motifs. The number of such combinations found in proteins is limited, and some combinations seem to be structurally favored. Thus similar domain structures frequently occur in different proteins with different functions and with completely different amino acid sequences. 

Figure 2.21 illustrates the 24 possible ways in which two adjacent p hairpin motifs, each consisting of two antiparallel p strands connected by a loop region, can be combined to make a more complex motif. 

Figure 2.21 Two sequentially adjacent hairpin motifs can be arranged in 24 different ways into a p sheet of four strands, (a) Topology diagrams for those arrangements that were found in a survey of all known structures in 1991. The Greek key motifs in (1) and (v) occurred 74 times, whereas the arrangement shown in (viii) occurred only once, (b) Topology diagrams for those 16 arrangements that did not occur in any structure known at that time. Most of these arrangements contain a pair of adjacent parallel P strands.

The p-a-P motif, which consists of two parallel p strands joined by an a helix, occurs in almost all structures that have a parallel p sheet. Four antiparallel p strands that are arranged in a specific way comprise the Greek key motif, which is frequently found in structures with antiparallel p sheets. 

Figure 4.1 Alpha/beta domains are found in many proteins. They occur in different classes, two of which are shown here (a) a closed barrel exemplified by schematic and topological diagrams of the enzyme trlosephosphate isomerase and (b) an open twisted sheet with helices on both sides, as in the coenzymebinding domain of some dehydrogenases. Both classes are built up from p-a-p motifs that are linked such that the p strands are parallel. Rectangles represent a helices, and arrows represent p strands in the topological diagrams, [(a) Adapted from J. Richardson, (b) Adapted from B. Furugren.j...

In barrels the hydrophobic side chains of the a helices are packed against hydrophobic side chains of the p sheet. The a helices are antiparallel and adjacent to the p strands that they connect. Thus the barrel is provided with a shell of hydrophobic residues from the a helices and the p strands. 

Since the side chains of consecutive amino acids of a p strand are on opposite sides of the P sheet, every second residue of the p strands contributes to this hydrophobic shell. The other side chains of the P strands point inside the barrel to form a hydrophobic core this core is therefore comprised exclusively of side chains of P-strand residues (Figure 4.3). 

The packing interactions between a helices and p strands are dominated by the residues Val (V), He (I), and Leu (L), which have branched hydrophobic side chains. This is reflected in the amino acid composition these three amino acids comprise approximately 40% of the residues of the P strands in parallel P sheets. The important role that these residues play in packing a helices against P sheets is particularly obvious in a/P-barrel structures, as shown in Table 4.1. 

Figure 4.3 In most a/p-barrel structures the eight p strands of the barrel enclose a tightly packed hydrophobic core formed entirely by side chains from the p strands. The core is arranged in three layers, with each layer containing four side chains from alternate p strands. The schematic diagram shows this packing arrangement in the a/p barrel of the enzyme glycolate oxidase, the structure of which was determined by Carl Branden and colleagues in Uppsala, Sweden.

Figure 4.2 A p-a-p motif is a right-handed structure. Two such motifs can be joined into a four-stranded parallel p sheet in two different ways. They can be aligned with the a helices either on the same side of the p sheet (a) or on opposite sides (b). In case (a) the last p strand of motif I (red) is adjacent to the first p strand of motif 2 (blue), giving the strand order 1 2 3 4. The motifs are aligned in this way in barrel structures (see Figure 4.1a) and in the horseshoe fold (see Figure 4.11). In case (b) the first p strands of both motifs are adjacent, giving the strand order 4 3 12. Open twisted sheets (see Figure 4.1b) contain at least one motif alignment of this kind. In both cases the motifs ate joined by an ct helix (green).

Table 4.1 The amino acid residues of the eight parallel p strands in the barrel structure of the enzyme triosephosphate isomerase from chicken muscle...

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