title: Secondary structure of human leukocyte interferon from Raman spectroscopy.
abstract: Raman spectra were taken of human alpha (leukocyte) interferon subtype A (HuIFN-alpha A) purified from extracts of transformed Escherichia coli. Quantitative analysis of the conformationally sensitive amide I band indicates that IFN (interferon)-alpha A is 75 +/- 5% helical and 7 +/- 4% beta-strand. An independent analysis of the amide III spectrum indicates 71 +/- 5% helix and 10 +/- 6% beta-strand. These results differ with a recently proposed three-dimensional model based on secondary structure predictions derived from sequence and with circular dichroism measurements. The Raman spectrum of IFN-alpha A is compared with the spectra of several other helical proteins: hemerythrin, intestinal calcium-binding protein, melittin, and insulin.
mesh_terms: D004926:Escherichia coli; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I