MEASURING THE STRENGTH OF SIDE-CHAIN HYDROGEN-BONDS IN PEPTIDE HELICES - THE GLN-CENTER-DOT-ASP-(I,I+4) INTERACTION

Whether hydrogen bonds between side chains are energetically significant in proteins and peptides has been controversial. A method is given here for measuring these interactions in peptide helices by comparing the helix contents of peptides with 1, 2, or 3 interactions. Results are given for the glutamine-aspartate (i, i + 4) hydrogen-bond interaction. The Gibbs energy of the interaction is -1.0 kcal/mol when aspartate is charged and -0.4(4) kcal/mol when it is protonated. Magnetic resonance experiments show that the aspartate carboxylate group interacts specifically with the trans amide proton (H-E) of glutamine. The interaction is observed only when the glutamine residue is N-terminal to the aspartate and when the spacing is (i, i + 4). The same stereochemistry is found in protein structures, where the (i, i + 4) glutamine-aspartate interaction occurs much more frequently than other possible arrangements.