title: Beta-sheet modeling by helical surfaces.
abstract: We present a topological description of a beta-sheet in terms of a piece of helical surface. It requires only two easy-to-handle parameters: the twist, i.e. the turn of the helical surface per residue, and the coiling, which is a curvature along the strands or in the direction perpendicular to the strands of the sheet. This method applies fairly well to three- and four-strand sheets, forming a too limited structure to be able to build a barrel. From an analysis of beta-sheets derived from a structural database, we show that this picture can even be reduced to the use of one main value, the twist angle. The dependence of beta-sheet twisting on the number of strands in a sheet, and also on the length and direction of strands, has been demonstrated. The applications of such a description may include the rapid modeling of 3D structures.
authors.affiliation: Equipe Systèmes Moléculaires et Biologie Structurale, LMCP, CNRS UMR7590, Universités Paris 6 et Paris 7, Case 115, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Znamenskiy
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Le Tuan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poupon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chomilier
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mornon
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016208:Databases, Factual; D008956:Models, Chemical; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins