High-resolution x-ray crystal structures of the villin headpiece subdomain, an ultrafast folding protein.

ABSTRACT: The 35-residue subdomain of the villin headpiece (HP35) is a small ultrafast folding protein that is being intensely studied by experiments, theory, and simulations. We have solved the x-ray structures of HP35 and its fastest folding mutant [K24 norleucine (nL)] to atomic resolution and compared their experimentally measured folding kinetics by using laser temperature jump. The structures, which are in different space groups, are almost identical to each other but differ significantly from previously solved NMR structures. Hence, the differences between the x-ray and NMR structures are probably not caused by lattice contacts or crystal/solution differences, but reflect the higher accuracy of the x-ray structures. The x-ray structures reveal important details of packing of the hydrophobic c

SUBMITTER: Chiu TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1140446 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature