A direct comparison of helix propensity in proteins and peptides

Abstract

α-Helical secondary structure occurs widely in globular proteins and its formation is a key step in their folding. As a consequence, understanding the energetics of helix formation is crucial to understanding protein folding and stability. We have measured the helix propensities of the nonpolar amino acids for an α-helix in an intact protein, ribonuclease T 1, and for a 17- residue peptide with a sequence identical to that of the α-helix in the protein. The helix propensities are in excellent agreement. This shows that when compared in the same sequence context, the helix propensities of the nonpolar amino acids are identical in helical peptides and intact proteins, and that conclusions based on studies of the helix-to-coil transitions of peptides may, in favorable cases, be directly applicable to proteins. Our helix propensities based on ribonuclease T 1 are in good agreement with those from similar studies of barnase and T4 lysozyme. In contrast, our helix propensities differ substantially from those derived from studies of alanine- stabilized or salt bridge-stabilized model α-helical peptides.