title: The notch ankyrin domain folds via a discrete, centralized pathway.
abstract: The Notch ankyrin repeat domain contains seven ankyrin sequence repeats, six of which adopt very similar structures. To determine if folding proceeds along parallel pathways and the order in which repeats become structured during folding, we examined the effect of analogous destabilizing Ala-->Gly substitutions in each repeat on folding kinetics. We find that folding proceeds to an on-pathway kinetic intermediate through a transition state ensemble containing structure in repeats three through five. Repeats two, six, and seven remain largely unstructured in this intermediate, becoming structured in a second kinetic step that leads to the native state. These data suggest that the Notch ankyrin domain folds according to a discrete kinetic pathway despite structural redundancy in the native state and highlight the importance of sequence-specific interactions in controlling pathway selection. This centralized pathway roughly corresponds to a low energy channel through the experimentally determined energy landscape.
authors.affiliation: T.C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Christina Marchetti
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barrick
mesh_terms: D017089:Ankyrin Repeat / Q000235:genetics*; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D017510:Protein Folding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D051880:Receptors, Notch