Self-assembly of coiled-coil tetramers in the 1.40 A structure of a leucine-zipper mutant.
Deng, Y., Zheng, Q., Liu, J., Cheng, C.S., Kallenbach, N.R., Lu, M.(2007) Protein Sci 16: 323-328
- PubMed: 17189475 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1110/ps.062590807
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2NRN - PubMed Abstract: 
The hydrophobic core of the GCN4 leucine-zipper dimerization domain is formed by a parallel helical association between nonpolar side chains at the a and d positions of the heptad repeat. Here we report a self-assembling coiled-coil array formed by the GCN4-pAe peptide that differs from the wild-type GCN4 leucine zipper by alanine substitutions at three charged e positions. GCN4-pAe is incompletely folded in normal solution conditions yet self-assembles into an antiparallel tetraplex in crystals by formation of unanticipated hydrophobic seams linking the last two heptads of two parallel double-stranded coiled coils. The GCN4-pAe tetramers in the lattice associate laterally through the identical interactions to those in the intramolecular dimer-dimer interface. The van der Waals packing interaction in the solid state controls extended supramolecular assembly of the protein, providing an unusual atomic scale view of a mesostructure.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Biochemistry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.