Title: High-resolution structures of a heterochiral coiled coil

Abstract

Interactions between polypeptide chains containing amino acid residues with opposite absolute configurations have long been a source of interest and speculation, but there is very little structural information for such heterochiral associations. The need to address this lacuna has grown in recent years because of increasing interest in the use of peptides generated from D amino acids (D peptides) as specific ligands for natural proteins, e.g., to inhibit deleterious protein–protein interactions. Coiled–coil interactions, between or among α-helices, represent the most common tertiary and quaternary packing motif in proteins. Heterochiral coiled–coil interactions were predicted over 50 years ago by Crick, and limited experimental data obtained in solution suggest that such interactions can indeed occur. To address the dearth of atomic-level structural characterization of heterochiral helix pairings, we report in this paper two independent crystal structures that elucidate coiled-coil packing between L- and D-peptide helices. Both structures resulted from racemic crystallization of a peptide corresponding to the transmembrane segment of the influenza M2 protein. Networks of canonical knobs-into-holes side-chain packing interactions are observed at each helical interface. Finally, however, the underlying patterns for these heterochiral coiled coils seem to deviate from the heptad sequence repeat that is characteristic of most homochiral analogs,more » with an apparent preference for a hendecad repeat pattern.« less

Authors:

Mortenson, David E. ^[1]; Steinkruger, Jay D. ^[1]; Kreitler, Dale F. ^[1]; Perroni, Dominic V. ^[1]; Sorenson, Gregory P. ^[1]; Huang, Lijun ^[2]; Mittal, Ritesh ^[2]; Yun, Hyun Gi ^[1]; Travis, Benjamin R. ^[2]; Mahanthappa, Mahesh K. ^[1]; Forest, Katrina T. ^[3]; Gellman, Samuel H. ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706,
2. Anatrace, Maumee, OH 43537,
3. Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706

Publication Date:

Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 EDT 2015

Research Org.:

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Inst. of Health (NIH) (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF); 3M Corporation (United States); Michigan Economic Development Corporation (United States); Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor (United States)

Contributing Org.:

Anatrace, Maumee, OH (United States)

OSTI Identifier:

1235128

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1228096

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-06CH11357; GM061238; NA14OAR4170092; CHE-1152347; T32 GM08293; T32 GM008349; DMR-0832760; DMR-1121288; 085P1000817

Resource Type:

Journal Article: Published Article

Journal Name:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 112 Journal Issue: 43; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; D peptides; transmembrane peptides; racemic crystallization; racemic detergent; coiled coil