title: Cystine knots.
abstract: Recent reports of the crystal structure of the glycoprotein hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin show that cystine knots are proving to be versatile structural motifs that enable the construction of a variety of proteins with different functional properties. Because of their shape, there appears to be an intrinsic requirement for the cystine-knot growth factors to form dimers. This extra level of organization increases the variety of structures built around this simple structural motif.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: N W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Isaacs
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003553:Cystine; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D006133:Growth Substances; D003553:Cystine