EFFECT OF CENTRAL-RESIDUE REPLACEMENTS ON THE HELICAL STABILITY OF A MONOMERIC PEPTIDE

The peptide acetylYEAAAKEARAKEAAAKAamide exhibits the dichroic features characteristic of a monomeric helix/coil transition in aqueous solution. Nineteen variants of this peptide each containing a different residue at position 9 were prepared by solid-phase peptide synthesis and purified by reversed-phase chromatography. The thermal dependence of the far-ultraviolet dichroic spectrum of each of these peptides except that containing proline is characteristic for an α-helix/coil transition. The relative stability of the helical forms of these peptides does not correlate with the preference of the variable amino acid to occupy a middle position in a protein helix. It is likely that the specific interactions of the variable residue with its local environment obscure any inherent preference of the residue to reside in an α-helix. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.