Journal
STRUCTURE
Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages 247-255Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2005.10.010
Keywords
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Funding
- NIAID NIH HHS [AI511151] Funding Source: Medline
- NIA NIH HHS [R01 AG019391-06, R37 AG019391, R01 AG019391, R01 AG025440, R01 AG025440-01A1] Funding Source: Medline
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Coiled-coil sequences in proteins commonly share a seven-amino acid repeat with nonpolar side chains at the first (a) and fourth (d) positions. We investigate here the role of a 3-3-1 hydrophobic repeat containing nonpolar amino acids at the a, d, and g positions in determining the structures of coiled coils using mutants of the GCN4 leucine zipper dimerization domain. When three charged residues at the g positions in the parental sequence are replaced by nonpolar alanine or valine side chains, stable four-helix structures result. The X-ray crystal structures of the tetramers reveal antiparallel, four-stranded coiled coils in which the a, d, and g side chains interlock in a combination of knobs-into-knobs and knobs-into-holes packing. Interfacial interactions in a coiled coil can therefore be prescribed by hydrophobic-polar patterns beyond the canonical 3-4 heptad repeat. The results suggest that the conserved, charged residues at the g positions in the GCN4 leucine zipper can impart a negative design element to disfavor thermodynamically more stable, antiparallel tetramers.
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