REFINED CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF INSULIN AT 1.8A RESOLUTION——CRYST

The structure of insulin has been refined by difference Fourier method at 1.8A resolu-tion. A set of computer programs calculating the mF_o-nF_c Fourier synthesis and the cor-rections of parameters automatically has been set up. With the programs to refine theinsulin model obtained from MIR map at 1.8A resolution for 11 cycles, the R index(R=∑|KF_o- F_c|/∑KF_o) is reduced to 0.210 from the initial value of 0.388. Duringthe refinement the stereochemistry of the insulin molecules is constantly detected andadjusted to fit the reasonable geometry. The refinement has greatly improved the structuremodel of insulin and provided more detailed structure information. On the basis of this thesystems of hydrogen bond in an insulin dimer are determined and the interaction betweenwater and insulin molecules in the crystal is investigated.