Proline residues prolyl peptide bonds

The fraction of Us molecules depends on the number of proline residues and on their isomeric state in the native protein. In particular, the presence of cts-prolyl peptide bonds in the folded molecules leads to a high fraction of Us, since in unfolded proteins the cis state is populated to a small extent only. Adler and Scheraga (1990) showed by NMR that in heat-unfolded RNase A the nonnative trans isomers predominate at both Pro93 and Proll4. The Up molecules dominate in the unfolded state of proteins that have only tram-prolyl peptide bonds, such as lysozyme (Kato et ai, 1981, 1982), cytochrome c (Ridge el ai, 1981 Nall,... 

Figure 1. Peptidyl prolyl isomerases catalyze the interconversion of c/s-and frans-amide bond rotamers adjacent to proline residues in peptidic substrates.

JTo facilitate reading I use the terms cis and trans proline for proline residues preceded by a cis or a trans peptide bond in the folded protein nativelike and incorrect, nonnative denote whether or not a particular prolyl peptide bond in an unfolded state shows the same conformation as in the native state. Further, I use the expression isomerization of Xaa for the isomerization of the peptide bond preceding Xaa. Peptide bonds preceding proline are referred to as prolyl bonds, and those preceding residues other than proline are termed as nonprolyl bonds. The folding reactions that involve Xaa—Pro isomerizations as rate-limiting steps are called proline-limited reactions. 

Other interesting examples of proteases that exhibit promiscuous behavior are proline dipeptidase from Alteromonas sp. JD6.5, whose original activity is to cleave a dipeptide bond with a prolyl residue at the carboxy terminus [121, 122] and aminopeptidase P (AMPP) from E. coli, which is a prohne-specific peptidase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of N-terminal peptide bonds containing a proline residue [123, 124]. Both enzymes exhibit phosphotriesterase activity. This means that they are capable of catalyzing the reaction that does not exist in nature. It is of particular importance, since they can hydrolyze unnatural substrates - triesters of phosphoric acid and diesters of phosphonic acids - such as organophosphorus pesticides or organophosphoms warfare agents (Scheme 5.25) [125]. 

This enzyme [EC 3.4.11.9] (also known as Xaa-Pro aminopeptidase, X-Pro aminopeptidase, proline amino-peptidase, and aminoacylproline aminopeptidase) catalyzes the hydrolysis of a peptide bond at the iV-terminus of a peptide provided that the iV-terminal amino acyl residue is linked to a prolyl residue by that peptide bond. The enzyme will also act on dipeptides and tripeptides with that same restriction. Either manganese or cobalt is needed as a cofactor. This enzyme appears to be a membrane-bound system in both mammalian and bacterial cells. The protein belongs to the peptidase family M24B. 

Aminolysis of peptide esters occurs uneventfully but this approach to peptide bond formation is not used routinely because access to enantiomerically pure active esters of peptides is straightforward only when the activated residue is glycyl or prolyl (Section 3.2.2). Succinimido esters of small peptides with glycine or proline at the carboxy terminus have been used extensively for the preparation of larger segments in solution. Aminolysis by dipeptide ester 85 of dipeptide succinimido ester 84, obtained through the mixed anhydride (Scheme 19), gave enantiomerically pure (<0.5% l-d-l-l isomer) protected tetrapeptide 86 in 88% yield (Scheme 25). 

Cis/trans isomerism is not confined to prolyl bonds. Cis peptide bonds to residues other than proline (cis nonprolyl bonds) are, however, extremely rare in folded proteins because the trans form is strongly favored over cis. In short unstructured peptides 99.5—99.9% of nonprolyl peptide bonds are in the trans state (Scherer et al., 1998). Proteins that contain nonprolyl cis peptide bonds in their native states must therefore undergo trans —cis isomerizations of these bonds in virtually all refolding molecules. 

Protein folding can be extremely fast, and some proteins fold to their native state within a few milliseconds. Trans cis peptide bond isomer-izations complicate the folding process and decelerate it, sometimes by more than 1000-fold. Nevertheless, cis peptide bonds occur frequently in folded proteins, mainly before proline and occassionally before other amino acid residues. Prolyl isomerization and conformational folding are coupled Incorrect prolines lower the stability of folding intermediates and partial folding can modulate isomerization rates. Prolyl iso-merases catalyze prolyl isomerizations in protein folding, provided the prolines are accessible. 

Proline is one amino acid which would be expected to profoundly influence the reactivity of a peptide substrate. Proline restricts the possible conformations of a peptide chain and in addition is unable to act as a hydrogen bond donor. Both of these factors could affect peptide bond cleavage by hindering substrate binding or by preventing proper catalysis. Alternately, favorable interaction could take place between the enzyme and a prolyl residue, due either to a favorable hydrophobic interaction with the prolyl side chain or because proline restricts the peptide conformation to one which is favorable. That these effects are important is accentuated by the fact that at every subsite the cleavage probability of a substrate with a proline residue is significantly different from the mean (0.148). This is true for no other amino acid residue. Proline is favorable at P4 and P3 and unfavorable at all other subsites (P2 P3) ... 

---