Collagen triple helices

Examples of the various helical forms found in nature are the single helix (RNA), the double helix (DNA), the triple helix (collagen fibrils), and complex multiple helices (myosin, F-actin). Generally, these single and double helices are fairly readily soluble in dilute aqueous salt solution. The triple and complex helices are soluble only if the secondary bonds are broken. 

UV absorbance spectrum Conformational changes in triple helix, collagen concentration, number of tyrosure and pheiiylalainine residues Xa 1988 Silver and Trelstad, 1981... 

Fibrous proteins can serve as structural materials for the same reason that other polymers do they are long-chain molecules. By cross-linking, interleaving and intertwining the proper combination of individual long-chain molecules, bulk properties are obtained that can serve many different functions. Fibrous proteins are usually divided in three different groups dependent on the secondary structure of the individual molecules coiled-coil a helices present in keratin and myosin, the triple helix in collagen, and P sheets in amyloid fibers and silks. 

FIGURE 6.18 Poly(Gly-Pro-Pro), a collagen-like right-handed triple helix composed of three left-handed helical chains. (Adaptedfrom Miller Scheraga, H. A., 1976, Calculation of the... 

It is well known that native collagen containes tripeptide sequences, which alone are not capable of building up a triple helix (e.g. Gly-Pro-Leu, Gly-Pro-Ser) when they exist as homopolypeptides. The synthesis of threefold covalently bridged peptide chains opens up the possibility of investigating the folding properties of such weak helix formers, because the bridging reduces the entropy loss during triple-helix formation and thereby increases the thermodynamic stability of the tertiary structure. Therefore, we have... 

This gives an important hint at what kind of model peptides are synthesized to obtain detailed information about the thermodynamics and kinetics of the collagen triple-helix formation. A first success was already achieved by synthesizing peptides of the following general structure37 ... 

Fig. 37. Dependence of the thermodynamic parameters AH and AS of triple-helix formation on the imino acid content of the peptides (obtained by cleavage of calf skin-type I collagene with cyanogene and subequent isolation by column chromatrography)3) and of the native neutral salt-soluble skin collagene of various animals. The entropy values are denoted by dotted lines...

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