Journal
NATURE
Volume 406, Issue 6798, Pages 916-919Publisher
MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD
DOI: 10.1038/35022623
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The search for knots in protein has uncovered little that would cause Alexander the Great to reach for his sword. Excluding knots formed by post-translational crosslinking, the few proteins considered to be knotted form simple trefoil knots with one end of the chain extending through a loop by only a few residues(1,2), ten in the 'best' example(3). A knot in an open chain (as distinct from a closed circle) is not rigorously defined and many weak protein knots disappear if the structure is viewed from a different angle. Here I describe a computer algorithm to detect knots in open chains that is not sensitive to viewpoint and that can define the region of the chain giving rise to the knot. It characterizes knots in proteins by the number of residues that must be removed from each end to abolish the knot. I applied this algorithm to the protein structure database and discovered a deep, figure-of-eight knot in the plant protein acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase(4). I propose a protein folding pathway that may explain how such a knot is formed.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available