Peptides backbone groups

The critical role of water has also emerged as a factor to condition protein conformation. In this new model, the optimal bridging of water with the peptide backbone groups (carbonyl and amide) determines a well-known conformation termed pol)q5roline II. The specific role of the side chains is to modulate conformations by interfering to a certain degree with the solvation of the peptide backbone. Interestingly, the folded state is stabilized by... 

Fig. 3. (a) Chemical stmcture of a synthetic cycHc peptide composed of an alternating sequence of D- and L-amino acids. The side chains of the amino acids have been chosen such that the peripheral functional groups of the dat rings are hydrophobic and allow insertion into Hpid bilayers, (b) Proposed stmcture of a self-assembled transmembrane pore comprised of hydrogen bonded cycHc peptides. The channel is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between the peptide backbones of the individual molecules. These synthetic pores have been demonstrated to form ion channels in Hpid bilayers (71). 

Peptide bond resonance has several important consequences. First, it restricts free rotation around the peptide bond and leaves the peptide backbone with only two degrees of freedom per amino acid group rotation around... 

FIGURE 5.4 The coplanar relationship of the atoms in the amide group is highlighted as an imaginary shaded plane lying between two successive u-carbon atoms in the peptide backbone. 

Why should the cores of most globular and membrane proteins consist almost entirely of a-helices and /3-sheets The reason is that the highly polar N—H and C=0 moieties of the peptide backbone must be neutralized in the hydrophobic core of the protein. The extensively H-bonded nature of a-helices and /3-sheets is ideal for this purpose, and these structures effectively stabilize the polar groups of the peptide backbone in the protein core. 

This group is used for peptide backbone protection. The acetoxy group makes it stable to TFA that is used to cleave the BOC group during peptide synthesis. 

Another competing cyclisation during peptide synthesis is the formation of aspartimides from aspartic acid residues [15]. This problem is common with the aspartic acid-glycine sequence in the peptide backbone and can take place under both acidic and basic conditions (Fig. 9). In the acid-catalysed aspartimide formation, subsequent hydrolysis of the imide-containing peptide leads to a mixture of the desired peptide and a (3-peptide. The side-chain carboxyl group of this (3-peptide will become a part of the new peptide backbone. In the base-catalysed aspartimide formation, the presence of piperidine used during Fmoc group deprotection results in the formation of peptide piperidines. 

To finish the structure, we replace the R groups on the peptide backbone with their appropriate line structures ... 

P2j Z = 2 DX = 1.43 R = 0.067 for 1269 intensities. The uracil residue is in the anti (63.4°) disposition. The conformation of the D-ribosyl group is 2T3 (176.8°, 37.5°). The orientation about the exocyclic, C-4 -C-5 bond is t (—174.2°). The phenyl and uracil ringsofthe same molecule lie in almost parallel planes, 120 pm apart. The phenyl group is disordered. The uracil ring is sandwiched by the phenyl rings, and vice versa. The 0-1 and N-a atoms of the peptide backbone are hydrogen-bonded to 0-4 and N-3 of atranslationally related uracil to form cyclic dimers. Such interactions serve as models for nucleic acid-protein interactions. [Coordinate errors H(02 ) x should be —1574, instead of —1474 H(Na)2 z should be —145 instead of— 645.]... 

Fig. 1 Solid-state NMR structure analysis relies on the 19F-labelled peptides being uniformly embedded in a macroscopically oriented membrane sample, (a) The angle (0) of the 19F-labelled group (e.g. a CF3-moiety) on the peptide backbone (shown here as a cylinder) relative to the static magnetic field is directly reflected in the NMR parameter measured (e.g. DD, see Fig. 2c). (b) The value of the experimental NMR parameter varies along the peptide sequence with a periodicity that is characteristic for distinct peptide conformations, (c) From such wave plot the alignment of the peptide with respect to the lipid bilayer normal (n) can then be evaluated in terms of its tilt angle (x) and azimuthal rotation (p). Whole-body wobbling can be described by an order parameter, S rtlo. (d) The combined data from several individual 19F-labelled peptide analogues thus yields a 3D structural model of the peptide and how it is oriented in the lipid bilayer...

Fig. 3 Important 19F-labelled amino acids, (a) Compounds that are wo-steric to native amino acids can be incorporated into proteins biosynthetically, but they possess too many degrees of torsional freedom to be useful for ssNMR structure analysis, (b) In these artificial amino acids the 19F-reporter group is rigidly attached to the peptide backbone. They can be incorporated by solid-phase peptide synthesis, but some problems can arise due to racemisation (4F-Phg, 4CF3-Phg), steric hindrance of coupling (F3-Aib) or HF elimination (fluoro-Ala, F3-Ala). 4F-Phg is additionally problematic due to an ambiguity of the side-chain rotamer. The preferred 19F-labels for ssNMR structure analysis are CF3-Bpg and CF3-Phg (as suitable substitutes for Leu, lie, Met, Val and Ala), as well as F3-Aib and CF3-MePro...

Electron transfer dissociation (ETD) is an ECD-like method with most of the same characteristics [21]. Like ECD, ETD yields abundant peptide backbone c- and z-type ions while often retaining such labile groups as peptide O/TV-glycosylation and phosphorylation [22]. Unlike ECD, ETD can be performed in the presence of an RF field. Here, anions created in a chemical ionization (Cl) source (see Section 2.1.7) are used as electron donors but the fragmentation pathways are essentially the same as for ECD. Commercial linear QIT instruments have recently become available with the ETD option. 

As stated above, we define pseudopeptides as compounds having a modified peptide backbone, namely with at least one peptide bond replaced by a bioisosteric surrogate (summarized in Table 6.7) [139][181][234], Such surrogate groups are nonhydrolyzable by nature, or hydrolyzable only under severe conditions in the case of the S02-NH bond. In the vast majority of published pseudopeptides, only one or a very few peptide bonds had been replaced and most monomeric units are amino acids, meaning that such pseudopeptides do qualify as peptides. 

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