Glycine Perturbs Local and Global Conformational Flexibility of a Transmembrane Helix

Philipp Högel, Alexander Götz, Felix Kuhne, Maximilian Ebert, Walter Stelzer, Kasper D Rand, Christina Scharnagl, Dieter Langosch

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Flexible transmembrane helices frequently support the conformational transitions between different functional states of membrane proteins. While proline is well known to distort and destabilize transmembrane helices, the role of glycine is still debated. Here, we systematically investigated the effect of glycine on transmembrane helix flexibility by placing it at different sites within the otherwise uniform leucine/valine repeat sequence of the LV16 model helix. We show that amide deuterium/hydrogen exchange kinetics are increased near glycine. Molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the measured exchange kinetics and reveal, at atomic resolution, a severe packing defect at glycine that enhances local hydration. Furthermore, glycine alters H-bond occupancies and triggers a redistribution of α-helical and 310-helical H-bonds. These effects facilitate local helix bending at the glycine site and change the collective dynamics of the helix.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalBiochemistry
    Volume57
    Issue number8
    Pages (from-to)1326-1337
    Number of pages12
    ISSN0006-2960
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 27 Feb 2018

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