title: Structural composition of betaI- and betaII-proteins.
abstract: Circular dichroism spectra of proteins are sensitive to protein secondary structure. The CD spectra of alpha-rich proteins are similar to those of model alpha-helices, but beta-rich proteins exhibit CD spectra that are reminiscent of CD spectra of either model beta-sheets or unordered polypeptides. The existence of these two types of CD spectra for beta-rich proteins form the basis for their classification as betaI- and betaII-proteins. Although the conformation of beta-sheets is largely responsible for the CD spectra of betaI-proteins, the source of betaII-protein CD, which resembles that of unordered polypeptides, is not completely understood. The CD spectra of unordered polypeptides are similar to that of the poly(Pro)II helix, and the poly(Pro)II-type (P2) structure forms a significant fraction of the unordered conformation in globular proteins. We have compared the beta-sheet and P2 structure contents in beta-rich proteins to understand the origin of betaII-protein CD. We find that betaII-proteins have a ratio of P2 to beta-sheet content greater than 0.4, whereas for betaI-proteins this ratio is less than 0.4. The beta-sheet content in betaI-proteins is generally higher than that in betaII-proteins. The origin of two classes of CD spectra for beta-rich proteins appears to lie in their relative beta-sheet and P2 structure contents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Narasimha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sreerama
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Woody
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins