Jh. Viles et al., DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND STRUCTURE OF A ZINC-FINGER WITH AN ARTIFICIAL BETA-TURN, Journal of Molecular Biology, 279(4), 1998, pp. 973-986
We have incorporated a bicyclic beta-turn mimetic (BTD; beta-turn dipe
ptide) into a zinc finger, creating a zinc finger with an artificial b
eta-turn. The designed peptide chelates zinc and has the same fold as
the unmodified native zinc finger (finger 3 of the human YY1 protein).
A combination of H-1 NMR and structure calculations reveals that, in
solution, this zinc finger has a fold similar to the known wild-type c
rystal structure and to other zinc fingers containing the consensus se
quence X-3-Cys-X-4-Cys-X-12-His-X-3-His-X. The peptide was designed wi
th BTD between the chelating cysteine residues, with BTD forming a typ
e II' beta-turn linking the two strands of a distorted anti-parallel b
eta-sheet. The C-terminal portion of the peptide forms a helix with zi
nc co-ordinating histidine residues on successive turns of the helix.
This work represents a step towards developing methods by which parts
of a target protein may be replaced by peptide mimetics. (C) 1998 Acad
emic Press Limited.