Knotted vs. unknotted proteins: evidence of knot-promoting loops.

ABSTRACT: Knotted proteins, because of their ability to fold reversibly in the same topologically entangled conformation, are the object of an increasing number of experimental and theoretical studies. The aim of the present investigation is to assess, on the basis of presently available structural data, the extent to which knotted proteins are isolated instances in sequence or structure space, and to use comparative schemes to understand whether specific protein segments can be associated to the occurrence of a knot in the native state. A significant sequence homology is found among a sizeable group of knotted and unknotted proteins. In this family, knotted members occupy a primary sub-branch of the phylogenetic tree and differ from unknotted ones only by additional loop segments. These "knot-promo

SUBMITTER: Potestio R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2912335 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature