Polypeptides protonation

Studies of electrical interactions in proteins, polypeptides, and amino acids started over 60 years ago [1]. To a large extent, electrostatic properties of proteins are determined by the ability of certain amino acids to exchange protons with their environment and the dependence of these processes on pH. The proton occupies a special position as a promoter and iiuxliator in... 

The enzyme provides a general base, a His residue, that can accept the proton from the hydroxyl group of the reactive Ser thus facilitating formation of the covalent tetrahedral transition state. This His residue is part of a catalytic triad consisting of three side chains from Asp, His, and Ser, tvhich are close to each other in the active site, although they are far apart in the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide chain (Figure 11.6). 

For a polypeptide chain of 100 residues in length, a rather modest size, the number of possible sequences is 20 , or because 20 = lO, lO unique possibilities. These numbers are more than astronomical Because an average protein molecule of 100 residues would have a mass of 13,800 daltons (average molecular mass of an amino acid residue = 138), lO such molecules would have amass of 1.38 X lO " daltons. The mass of the observable universe is estimated to be 10 proton masses (about 10 daltons). Thus, the universe lacks enough material to make just one molecule of each possible polypeptide sequence for a protein only 100 residues in length. 

ATP synthase actually consists of two principal complexes. The spheres observed in electron micrographs make up the Fj unit, which catalyzes ATP synthesis. These Fj spheres are attached to an integral membrane protein aggregate called the Fq unit. Fj consists of five polypeptide chains named a, j3, y, 8, and e, with a subunit stoichiometry ajjSaySe (Table 21.3). Fq consists of three hydrophobic subunits denoted by a, b, and c, with an apparent stoichiometry of ajbgCg.ig- Fq forms the transmembrane pore or channel through which protons move to drive ATP synthesis. The a, j3, y, 8, and e subunits of Fj contain 510, 482, 272, 146, and 50 amino acids, respectively, with a total molecular mass... 

In addition to transporting Oj from the lungs to peripheral tissues, hemoglobin transports CO2, the byproduct of respiration, and protons from peripheral tissues to the lungs. Hemoglobin carries CO2 as carbamates formed with the amino terminal nitrogens of the polypeptide chains. 

Dlugosz M, Antosiewicz JM (2005) Effects of solute-solvent proton exchange on polypeptide chain dynamics A constant-pH molecular dynamics study. J Phys Chem B 109 13777-13784. 

Model analogs of the green type chromophore HBI have been chemically synthe-tized in different forms carrying blocking groups in place of the protein polypeptide chain [21, 24, 68, 69]. However, the covalent structure of HBI does not uniquely define its optical properties, because the molecule undergoes several protonation and conformational equilibria that directly affect its electronic structure. 

BR from H. salinarum is a light-driven proton pump, which is triggered by the photoisomerization of retinal covalently linked to its Lys216. It consists of a single polypeptide of 248 amino-acid residues, including seven a-helical TM chains A-G and interconnecting loops, as schematically illustrated in Figure 23. BR is one of the most intensively studied membrane proteins. A variety of experimental techniques have shown it to be... 

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