P-Structure

Fig. 5.2. Close packing of hard-sphere atoms - an alternative arrangement, giving the hexagonal close-packed (h.c.p.) structure.

On the basis of simple considerations of connected motifs, Michael Leviff and Cyrus Chothia of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology derived a taxonomy of protein structures and have classified domain structures into three main groups a domains, p domains, and a/p domains. In ct structures the core is built up exclusively from a helices (see Figure 2.9) in p structures the core comprises antiparallel p sheets and are usually two P sheets packed... 

Polypeptide chains are folded into one or several discrete units, domains, which are the fundamental functional and three-dimensional structural units. The cores of domains are built up from combinations of small motifs of secondary structure, such as a-loop-a, P-loop-p, or p-a-p motifs. Domains are classified into three main structural groups a structures, where the core is built up exclusively from a helices p structures, which comprise antiparallel p sheets and a/p structures, where combinations of p-a-P motifs form a predominantly parallel p sheet surrounded by a helices. 

The most frequent of the domain structures are the alpha/beta (a/P) domains, which consist of a central parallel or mixed P sheet surrounded by a helices. All the glycolytic enzymes are a/p structures as are many other enzymes as well as proteins that bind and transport metabolites. In a/p domains, binding crevices are formed by loop regions. These regions do not contribute to the structural stability of the fold but participate in binding and catalytic action. 

Figure 4.5 The polypeptide chain of the enzyme pyruvate kinase folds into several domains, one of which is an a/p barrel (red). One of the loop regions in this barrel domain is extended and comprises about 100 amino acid residues that fold into a separate domain (blue) built up from antiparallel P strands. The C-terminal region of about 140 residues forms a third domain (green), which is an open twisted a/p structure.

Each repeat forms a right-handed P-loop-a structure similar to those found in the two other classes of a/p structures described earlier. Sequential p-loop-a repeats are joined together in a similar way to those in the a/P-bar-rel stmctures. The P strands form a parallel p sheet, and all the a helices are on one side of the P sheet. However, the P strands do not form a closed barrel instead they form a curved open stmcture that resembles a horseshoe with a helices on the outside and a p sheet forming the inside wall of the horseshoe (Figure 4.11). One side of the P sheet faces the a helices and participates in a hydrophobic core between the a helices and the P sheet the other side of the P sheet is exposed to solvent, a characteristic other a/p structures do not have. 

In the next class of a/p structures there are a helices on both sides of the p sheet. This has at least three important consequences. First, a closed barrel cannot be formed unless the p strands completely enclose the a helices on one side of the p sheet. Such structures have never been found and are very unlikely to occur, since a large number of p strands would be required to enclose even a single a helix. Instead, the p strands are arranged into an open twisted p sheet such as that shown in Figure 4.1b. 

In almost every one of the more than 100 different known a/p structures 1 of this class the active site is at the carboxy edge of the p sheet. Functional residues are provided by the loop regions that connect the carboxy end of the strands with the amino end of the a helices. In this one respect a fun-I damental similarity therefore exists between the a/p-barrel structures and the I open a/p-sheet structures. 

The general shapes of the active sites are quite different, however. Open I a/p structures cannot form funnel-shaped active sites like the barrel struc-Itures. Instead, they form crevices at the edge of the p sheet. Such crevices loccur when there are two adjacent connections that are on opposite sides of Ithe P sheet. One of the loop regions in these two connections goes out from... 

Figure 4.14 Examples of different types of open twisted a/p structures. Both schematic and topological diagrams are given. In the topological diagrams, arrows denote strands of p sheet and rectangles denote a helices, (a) The FMN-binding redox protein flavodoxln. (b) The enzyme adenylate kinase, which catalyzes the reaction AMP +...

Upha/beta (a/p) structures are the most frequent and most regular of the pro-kein structures. They fall into three classes the first class comprises a central core of usually eight parallel p strands arranged close together like the staves pf a barrel, surrounded by a helices the second class comprises an open twisted parallel or mixed p sheet with a helices on both sides of the p sheet and Ihe third class is formed by leucine-rich motifs in which a large number of parallel p strands form a curved p sheet with all the a helices on the outside bfthis sheet. 

Antiparallel beta (P) structures comprise the second large group of protein domain structures. Functionally, this group is the most diverse it includes enzymes, transport proteins, antibodies, cell surface proteins, and virus coat proteins. The cores of these domains are built up by p strands that can vary in number from four or five to over ten. The P strands are arranged in a predominantly antiparallel fashion and usually in such a way that they form two P sheets that are joined together and packed against each other. 

The p sheets have the usual twist, and when two such twisted p sheets are packed together, they form a barrel-like structure (Figure 5.1). Antiparallel P structures, therefore, in general have a core of hydrophobic side chains inside the barrel provided by residues in the P strands. The surface is formed by residues from the loop regions and from the strands. The aim of this chapter is to examine a number of antiparallel p structures and demonstrate how these rather complex structures can be separated into smaller comprehensible motifs. 

Figure S.l The enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD). SOD is a P structure comprising eight antiparallel P strands (a). In addition, SOD has two metal atoms, Cu and Zn (yellow circles), that participate in the catalytic action conversion of a superoxide radical to hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. The eight p strands are arranged around the surface of a barrel, which is viewed along the barrel axis in (b) and perpendicular to this axis in (c). [(a) Adapted from J.S. Richardson. The stmcture of SOD was determined in the laboratory of J.S. and D.R. Richardson, Duke University.)...

In the first edition of this book this chapter was entitled "Antiparallel Beta Structures" but we have had to change this because an entirely unexpected structure, the p helix, was discovered in 1993. The p helix, which is not related to the numerous antiparallel p structures discussed so far, was first seen in the bacterial enzyme pectate lyase, the stmcture of which was determined by the group of Frances Jurnak at the University of California, Riverside. Subsequently several other protein structures have been found to contain p helices, including extracellular bacterial proteinases and the bacteriophage P22 tailspike protein. 

The basic structural unit of these two-sheet p helix structures contains 18 amino acids, three in each p strand and six in each loop. A specific amino acid sequence pattern identifies this unit namely a double repeat of a nine-residue consensus sequence Gly-Gly-X-Gly-X-Asp-X-U-X where X is any amino acid and U is large, hydrophobic and frequently leucine. The first six residues form the loop and the last three form a p strand with the side chain of U involved in the hydrophobic packing of the two p sheets. The loops are stabilized by calcium ions which bind to the Asp residue (Figure S.28). This sequence pattern can be used to search for possible two-sheet p structures in databases of amino acid sequences of proteins of unknown structure. 

The number of possible ways to form antiparallel p structures is very large. The number of topologies actually observed is small, and most p structures fall into these three major groups of barrel structures. The last two groups—the Greek key and jelly roll barrels—include proteins of quite diverse function, where functional variability is achieved by differences in the loop regions that connect the p strands that build up the common core region. 

Most of the known antiparallel p structures, including the immunoglobulins and a number of different enzymes, have barrels that comprise at least one Greek key motif. An example is 7 crystallin, which has two consecutive Greek key motifs in each of two barrel domains. These four motifs are homologous in terms of both their three-dimensional structure and amino acid sequence and are thus evolutionarily related. 

In addition to the antiparallel p-structures, there is a novel fold called the P helix. In the p-helix structures the polypeptide chain is folded into a wide helix with two or three p strands for each turn. The p strands align to form either two or three parallel p sheets with a core between the sheets completely filled with side chains. 

Each subunit of the homotetrameric PFK of Escherichia coli comprises 320 amino acids arranged in two domains, one large and one smaller, both of which have an rx/p structure reminiscent of the Rossman fold (Figure 6.25). 

Figure 6.25 Schematic diagram of the structure of one dimer of phosphofructokinase. Each polypeptide chain is folded Into two domains (blue and red, and green and brown), each of which has an oi/p structure. Helices are labeled A to M and p strands 1 to 11 from the amino terminus of one polypeptide chain, and respectively from A to M and 1 to 11 for the second polypeptide chain. The binding sites of substrate and effector molecules are schematically marked In gray. The effector site of one subunit is linked to the active site of the other subunit of the dimer through the 6-F loop between helix F and strand 6. (Adapted from T. Schlrmer and P.R. Evans, Nature 343 140-145, 1990.)...

It is followed by a yellow region, which ends with the fourth a helix of the a/p structure. 

Figure 13.4 Schematic diagram (a) and topology diagram (b) of the polypeptide chain of cH-ras p21. The central p sheet of this a/p structure comprises six p strands, five of which are parallel a helices are green, p strands are blue, and the adenine, ribose, and phosphate parts of the GTP analog are blue, green, and ted, respectively. The loop regions that are involved in the activity of this protein are red and labeled Gl-GS. The Gl, G3, and G4 loops have the consensus sequences G-X-X-X-X-G-K-S/T, D-X-X-E, and N-K-X-D, respectively. (Adapted from E.R Pai et al., Nature 341 209-214, 1989.)...

A p structure has been converted to an a structure by changing only half of the sequence... 

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