title: Control of protein functional dynamics by peptide linkers.
abstract: Control of structural flexibility is essential for the proper functioning of a large number of proteins and multiprotein complexes. At the residue level, such flexibility occurs due to local relaxation of peptide bond angles whose cumulative effect may result in large changes in the secondary, tertiary or quaternary structures of protein molecules. Such flexibility, and its absence, most often depends on the nature of interdomain linkages formed by oligopeptides. Both flexible and relatively rigid peptide linkers are found in many multidomain proteins. Linkers are thought to control favorable and unfavorable interactions between adjacent domains by means of variable softness furnished by their primary sequence. Large-scale structural heterogeneity of multidomain proteins and their complexes, facilitated by soft peptide linkers, is now seen as the norm rather than the exception. Biophysical discoveries as well as computational algorithms and databases have reshaped our understanding of the often spectacular biomolecular dynamics enabled by soft linkers. Absence of such motion, as in so-called molecular rulers, also has desirable functional effects in protein architecture. We review here the historic discovery and current understanding of the nature of domains and their linkers from a structural, computational, and biophysical point of view. A number of emerging applications, based on the current understanding of the structural properties of peptides, are presented in the context of domain fusion of synthetic multifunctional chimeric proteins.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Information Sciences and Institute of Molecular Medicine University of Texas, Health Science Center Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA. wriggers@biomachina.org
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wriggers
authors.forename: Sugoto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakravarty
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Jennings
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018583:Pliability; D011487:Protein Conformation; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D011506:Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins