title: Three-dimensional structure of maize alpha-zein proteins studied by small-angle X-ray scattering.
abstract: alpha-zeins of maize (Zea mays) that are storage proteins contain nine or ten tandem repeats comprising of about 20 amino acids. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) of alpha-zeins was measured in 70% (v/v) aqueous ethanol containing beta-mercaptoethanol or without reagent in a protein concentration range of 2.0 to 40.0 mg/ml. The overall radius of gyration of whole particles, Rg, and the corresponding radius of gyration of the cross-section, Rc, of reduced alpha-zeins are 4.00 +/- 0.03 nm and 1.39 +/- 0.05 nm, respectively, in the 70% (v/v) aqueous ethanol containing 2% (v/v) beta-mercaptoethanol. Analyses using the Rg and Rc values indicate that reduced alpha-zeins exist as asymmetric particles with the length of about 13 nm in the solution. A structural model is developed under assumption that each of tandem repeats units forms single alpha-helix and they are joined by glutamine-rich 'turns' or loops, as employed by Argos et al., [Argos, O., Pedersen, K., Marks, M.D. and Larkins, B.A. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 9984-9990] and Garratt et al. [Garratt, R., Oliva, G., Caracelli, I., Leite, A. and Arruda, P. (1993) Proteins Struc. Func. Genet. 15, 88-99], and that the longest dimension of 13 nm comes from linear stacking of the anti-parallel helices of tandem repeat in the direction perpendicular to the helical axis. The resultant model is presented by an elongated prism-like shape with an approximate axial ratio of 6:1.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Sapporo Medical University, Hokkaido, Japan. matusima@shs.sapmed.ac.jp
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Danno
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takezawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Izumi
mesh_terms: D008433:Mathematics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction; D003313:Zea mays; D015028:Zein / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015028:Zein