Conformational flexibility in biochemical regulation
Small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering have proven extremely useful for studying the evolutionarily related dumbbell-shaped Ca {sup 2+} -binding proteins calmodulin and troponin C and their interactions with the target proteins whose activity they regulate. Calmodulin contracts about target enzyme binding domains with the common characteristic of having a high propensity for forming a basic, amphipathic a-helix. The contraction is achieved via flexibility in the interconnecting helix region of the molecule that links its two globular domains. This flexibility allows calmodulin to optimize its binding to different arrangements of hydrophobic and charged residues important in forming these complexes. In contrast calmodulin remains extended in its interaction with the catalytic subunit of phosphorylase kinase. There are structural and functional similarities between this interaction and that of troponin C and troponin I. Our most recent neutron scattering experiments confirm our prediction that troponin C also remains extended in this complex. The ability of the dumbbell-shaped Ca {sup 2+} -binding proteins to modulate their conformations via flexibility in the interconnecting helix region in order to accommodate different target binding domains is a remarkable example nature building functional diversity as well as specificity into a compact and unusual shape.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10185517
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-93-2936; CONF-9306237-1; ON: DE93040096
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 8. conversation in the discipline biomolecular stereodynamics,Albany, NY (United States),Jun 1993; Other Information: PBD: 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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