Local complexity of amino acid interactions in a protein core.

ABSTRACT: Atomic resolution structures of proteins indicate that the core is typically well packed, suggesting a densely connected network of interactions between amino acid residues. The combinatorial complexity of energetic interactions in such a network could be enormous, a problem that limits our ability to relate structure and function. Here, we report a case study of the complexity of amino acid interactions in a localized region within the core of the GFP, a particularly stable and tightly packed molecule. Mutations at three sites within the chromophore-binding pocket display an overlapping pattern of conformational change and are thermodynamically coupled, seemingly consistent with the dense network model. However, crystallographic and energetic analyses of coupling between mutations paint a

SUBMITTER: Jain RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC314147 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature