The long-term goal of this research program is to understand the detailed physico-chemical basis for the mechanism of protein stability. The function of proteins requires translation of the information encoded by a linear polypeptide sequence into a specific three-dimensional structure. The relationship between protein function, structure and stability is complex. Small perturbations such as single-site mutations can alter protein function, trafficking, degradation rate or solubility, leading to cellular abnormalities that, in some cases, are lethal. However, proteins also possess a great degree of plasticity and there are large number of amino acid mutations that do not affect the overall structure or function. The knowledge of the relationship between sequence, structure and stability is critical for, not only a deeper understanding of biological systems, but also for the development of approaches that allow rational design of new protein structures and enhanced stabilities of biologically active proteins. This can be used in biotechnology for improving human well-being and health. The present research proposal aims to understand how the amino acid sequence determines the stability and specificity of alpha-helical segments, both in solution and within protein structure, and to identify the universal and specialized determinants for protein stability. The four broad questions to be answered are: (1). What is the mechanism of stabilization of the N-termini of a-helices? (2). What is the contribution of the backbone conformation and hydrogen bonding at the C-terminus to the stability of the a-helix? (3). What is the contribution of the enthalpy of helix-coil transition to the helix propensity scale? (4). What is the contribution of helix-coil transition to the energetics of protein-protein interactions? To answer these questions, experiments, that include site-directed mutagenesis, calorimetry, fluorescence, circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopies, and computational approaches, will be applied to the model proteins ubiquitin, human pancreatic polypeptide, calmodulin and S100P, and short monomeric peptides.
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