1gcm: Difference between revisions

[[Image:1gcm.gif|left|200px]]<br /><applet load="1gcm" size="350" color="white" frame="true" align="right" spinBox="true"  

Subunit oligomerization in many proteins is mediated by short coiled-coil motifs. These motifs share a characteristic seven-amino-acid repeat containing hydrophobic residues at the first (a) and fourth (d) positions. Despite this common pattern, different sequences form two-, three- and four-stranded helical ropes. We have investigated the basis for oligomer choice by characterizing variants of the GCN4 leucine-zipper dimerization domain that adopt trimeric or tetrameric structures in response to mutations at the a and d positions. We now report the high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of an isoleucine-containing mutant that folds into a parallel three-stranded, alpha-helical coiled coil. In contrast to the dimer and tetramer structures, the interior packing of the trimer can accommodate beta-branched residues in the most preferred rotamer at both hydrophobic positions. Compatibility of the shape of the core amino acids with the distinct packing spaces in the two-, three- and four-stranded conformations appears to determine the oligomerization state of the GCN4 leucine-zipper variants.

1GCM is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_protein Single protein] structure of sequence from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces_cerevisiae Saccharomyces cerevisiae] with <scene name='pdbligand=ACE:'>ACE</scene> as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ligand ligand]. Full crystallographic information is available from [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca-bin/ocashort?id=1GCM OCA].  

[[Category: Harbury, P B.]]

[[Category: Kim, P S.]]

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