title: Structures of Thymosin Proteins.
abstract: The thymosin proteins are all short, highly charged, intrinsically unstructured proteins under natural conditions. However, structure can be induced in many of the thymosin proteins by providing charge neutralization at low pH or by the addition of Zn(2+) ions, organic reagents such as trifluoroethanol, hexafluoropropanol, or n-dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide, or interactions with their natural binding partner proteins. The differing structures of thymosin alpha and thymosin beta proteins have been studied by circular dichroism, nuclear magnetic resonance, and crystallographic methods in order to better understand the role of these proteins. In this structural biology review the structures of prothymosin, parathymosin, thymosin alpha-1, and several beta thymosin proteins, in both native states and under secondary structure-inducing conditions are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Texas Children's Microbiome Center, TCH Pathology, Houston, TX, United States.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoch
authors.affiliation: Center for Proteomics and Systems Biology, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States; Department of Nanomedicine and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States. Electronic address: david.volk@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Volk
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003461:Crystallography; D006801:Humans; D064267:Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000737:chemistry; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012997:Solvents; D000077596:Thymalfasin; D013947:Thymosin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry*; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology; D000099201:Thymosin beta(4)
chemical_list: D064267:Intrinsically Disordered Proteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D012997:Solvents; D000077596:Thymalfasin; D013947:Thymosin; D015032:Zinc; D000099201:Thymosin beta(4); C040782:prothymosin alpha; C044498:parathymosin alpha
keywords: Parathymosin; Prothymosin; Structure; Thymosin alpha; Thymosin beta