Sulfur amino acids residues containing

There are hundreds of iron-containing enzymes. In general, the iron can exist as (a) a mononuclear site, in which it is coordinated by a tetrapyrrole structure (hemes) or strictly by amino acid residues that donate oxo, nitrogen, or sulfur ligands (b) a dinuclear site in which the irons are bridged by oxo, nitrogen, or sulfur coordination (c) a trinuclear site as in the 3Fe-4S clusters or (d) a tetranuclear site as in the [4Fe-4S] clusters. 

In contrast to nucleic acids, which can be repaired after oxidative damage by excision and insertion mechanisms (see Chapter 28), the repair of oxidized proteins does not occur except the oxidized sulfur-containing amino acid residues [22]. Instead, oxidized proteins are... 

Selenocysteine is a special case. This rare amino acid residue is introduced during protein synthesis rather than created through a postsynthetic modification. It contains selenium rather than the sulfur of cysteine. Actually derived from serine, selenocysteine is a constituent of just a few known proteins. 

The main drawback in the catalytic hydrogenolysis of Z-protected peptide derivatives is caused by the presence of sulfur-containing amino acid residues (Cys, Pen, or Met) due to catalyst poisoning. Attempts to overcome these restrictions by addition of either tertiary basesf or boron trifluoride-diethyl ether complext to the hydrogenation mixture were of limited usefulness. More efficient appears to be the use of liquid ammonia (at —33°C) as the solvent to prevent poisoning of the Pd/C catalyst.f °l... 

Amino acid 4-toluenesulfonate or 2-naphthalenesulfonate salts are esterified in high yield with diazodiphenylmethane in DMF (50 °C, 10min).P " l Diazodiphenylmethane is prepared by oxidation of benzophenone hydrazone, e.g. with yellow mercury(II) oxide in the presence of base, and can be stored in the dark.P P l In situ oxidation of the benzophenone hydrazone is performed with peracetic acid/l2 (trace) in the presence of the N-protected amino acids or peptides.P P l This method is not compatible with sulfur-containing amino acid residues. Alternatively, Dpm esters of protected amino acids and peptides are obtained using benzhydryl chloride or diphenylmethanol by standard esterification procedures. 

Tonoiilament Assembly. The available information suggests that keratin is sequentially assembled around primary fibers that originate within the attachment plates of desmosomes (27). The dense cores of 50-A filaments (stained with uranyl acetate) represent such fibers (64, 84). These cores and their surrounding fibrous protein probably contain about 50% a helix (71). They contain even less sulfur (32, 64) than the high methionine (1.4 residues/100 amino acid residues), low cystine (1.1 residues/100 amino acid residues) fraction obtained by Baden after partial enzymatic hydrolysis (82). Studies with tritiated amino acids suggest that basal cells preferentially incorporate methionine, leucine, and phenylalanine within their elements (73, 74). In Figure 13A the primary rope is identified with the 35-A diameter of the smallest filaments that have been isolated (32). 

Anomalous scattering can also be used directly if the protein is small and a suitable anomalous scatterer can be used. The three-dimensional structure of the small protein, crambin, was determined by W ayne A. Hendrickson and Martha Teeter by the use of anomalous dispersion measurements. This protein contains 45 amino acid residues and diffracts to 0.88 A resolution. It crystallizes with 72 water and four ethanol molecules per protein molecule. Since there is a sulfur atom in the protein molecule, the use of its anomalous scattering was made. The nearest absorption edge of sulfur lies at 5.02 A, but for Cu Ka radiation, wavelength 1.5418 A, values of A/ and A/" for sulfur are 0.3 and 0.557, respectively. Friedel-related pairs of reflections were measured to 1.5 A resolution, and sulfur atom positions were computed from difference Patterson maps. The structure is now fully refined and a portion of an a helix was shown in Figure 12.27 (Chapter 12). 

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