Crystal Structure of a Consensus-Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein: Implications for Stability
Binz, H.K., Kohl, A., Pluckthun, A., Grutter, M.G.(2006) Proteins 65: 280
- PubMed: 16493627 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/prot.20930
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2BKG - PubMed Abstract: 
Consensus-designed ankyrin repeat (AR) proteins are thermodynamically very stable. The structural analysis of the designed AR protein E3_5 revealed that this stability is due to a regular fold with highly conserved structural motifs and H-bonding networks. However, the designed AR protein E3_19 exhibits a significantly lower stability than E3_5 (9.6 vs. 14.8 kcal/mol), despite 88% sequence identity. To investigate the structural correlations of this stability difference between E3_5 and E3_19, we determined the crystal structure of E3_19 at 1.9 A resolution. E3_19 as well has a regular AR domain fold with the characteristic H-bonding patterns. All structural features of the E3_5 and E3_19 molecules appear to be virtually identical (RMSD(Calpha) approximately 0.7 A). However, clear differences are observed in the surface charge distribution of the two AR proteins. E3_19 features clusters of charged residues and more exposed hydrophobic residues than E3_5. The atomic coordinates of E3_19 have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank. PDB ID: 2BKG.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Biochemisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.