1vkt
From Proteopedia
HUMAN INSULIN TWO DISULFIDE MODEL, NMR, 10 STRUCTURES
Overview
Functional surfaces of a protein are often mapped by combination of X-ray crystallography and mutagenesis. Such studies of insulin have yielded paradoxical results, suggesting that the native state is inactive and reorganizes on receptor binding. Of particular interest is the N-terminal alpha-helix of the A-chain. Does this segment function as an alpha-helix or reorganize as recently proposed in a prohormone-convertase complex? To correlate structure and function, we describe a mapping strategy based on protein design. The solution structure of an engineered monomer ([AspB10, LysB28, ProB29]-human insulin) is determined at neutral pH as a template for synthesis of a novel A-chain analogue. Designed by analogy to a protein-folding intermediate, the analogue lacks the A6-A11 disulphide bridge; the cysteine residues are replaced by serine. Its solution structure is remarkable for segmental unfolding of the N-terminal A-chain alpha-helix (A1 to A8) in an otherwise native subdomain. The structure demonstrates that the overall orientation of the A and B chains is consistent with reorganization of the A-chain's N-terminal segment. Nevertheless, the analogue's low biological activity suggests that this segment, a site of clinical mutation causing diabetes mellitus, functions as a preformed recognition alpha-helix.
About this Structure
1VKT is a Protein complex structure of sequences from Homo sapiens. Full crystallographic information is available from OCA.
Reference
Mapping the functional surface of insulin by design: structure and function of a novel A-chain analogue., Hua QX, Hu SQ, Frank BH, Jia W, Chu YC, Wang SH, Burke GT, Katsoyannis PG, Weiss MA, J Mol Biol. 1996 Nov 29;264(2):390-403. PMID:8951384 Page seeded by OCA on Sat May 3 12:39:23 2008
