A DETERMINATION OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF TRICHOSANTHIN AT LOW RESOLUTION

Trichosanthin, extracted from a Chinese herb medicine, is a plant protein having a molec-ular weight of ca. 24,000 and containing 219 amino acid residues. The crystal is mono-clinic, belonging to the space group C2, with the following cell dimensions: a=75.64A, b=75.52A, c=88.85A β= 99.51°. Each asymmetric unit contains two such protein molecules. The UO_2Ac_2 and K_2Pt(NO_2)_4 derivatives of trichosanthin have been prepared by soakingin the respective solutions of high dilution. The joint probability of isomorphous replacementand anomalous scattering has been used to calculate the native phases. In the electron densitymaps, the boundary between the two protein molecules can be recognized, leading to thefollowing approximate molecular dimensions: 45×40×35A~3. Each molecule contains fourrod-shaped segments easily known as α-helices.     

THE COURSE OF THE POLYPEPTIDE CHAIN OF TRICHOSANTHIN MOLECULE

The course of the polypeptide chain of Trichosanthin has been determined from the electron density map at 4 resolution. The structure belongs to α+β type. It contains eight α-helices (39% of total residues) and four β-sheets (32% of total residues) which are made up of thirteen β-strands. The α-helices are relatively in the centre of the molecule and surrounded by β-sheets. This is the characteristic feature of Trichosanthin structure. This kind of structural arrangement has not been reported before. The transformation matrix and translation vector, which superpose two molecules in one asymmetric unit, were obtained. The root mean square error is 1.31 for this superposition.     

天花粉蛋白分子的肽链走向

本文证明从4分辨率的电子密度图上确定了一条合理的肽走向。天花粉蛋白属于α β型结构。整个分子包含八段α-螺旋,约占残基总数37％;13条β链组成4个β折叠层,占残基总数32％。α-螺旋相对地处于分子的中心,而4个β折叠层分布在外围。这是天花粉蛋白结构的显著特点,这种结构排布方式尚未见文献报道。用坐标叠合方法获得了不对称单位内两分子叠合时的旋转矩阵和平移向量,叠合后的均方根误差是1.31。     

天花粉蛋白低分辨率晶体结构的测定

本文测出:天花粉蛋白分子量为24000,有219个氨基酸残基。晶体属单斜晶系,空间群为C2,晶胞参数a=75.64埃,b=75.52埃,c=88.85埃,β=99.51°,每个不对称单元内含2个分子。 用UO_2Ac_2和K_2Pt(NO_2)_4浸泡获得两个重原子衍生物,按照多对同晶置换加反常散射的联合概率法求得母体相角,计算了5埃和4埃分辨率电子密度图,从图上分辨出两个独立分子的界面,分子大小约为45×40×35埃~3,每个分子中有4段棒状的电子密度更为清晰,可辨认为α-螺旋结构。