Metal-mediated peptide assembly:: Use of metal coordination to change the oligornerization state of an α-helical coiled-coil

Metal coordination is used to alter the oligomerization state of a designed peptide structure. The 30-residue polypeptide AQ-Pal21 4Pal21 contains two metal-binding 4-pyridylalanine (Pal) residues on its solvent-exposed surface and exists as a very stable two-stranded a-helical coiled-coil. Upon the addition of Pt(en)(NO3)(2), a significant conformational change to a metal-bridged, four-helix bundle is seen.