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Effect of Variation of the Strength of the Aromatic Interactions of Tryptophan on the Cooperative Structural Refolding Behavior of a Peptide from HIV 1

Mechanisms of Biomolecular Interactions, Department A060, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Jennifer Reed, Tel.: +49-6221-423256; E-mail: j.reed{at}dkfz-heidelberg.de.

A 15-residue sequence (LPCRIKQFINMWQEV) forming the principal CD4-binding domain of gp120 from HIV 1 displays unusual, highly cooperative refolding from β-hairpin to 3₁₀ helix when the polarity of the surrounding medium drops below a critical point, the so-called conformational switch. The tryptophan at position 12 has been shown to be essential for the cooperativity of the refolding process, and several lines of evidence from earlier work had suggested that it was the aromatic quadrupole that was responsible for this. To define more precisely what physico-chemical properties of tryptophan brought about the unique behavior of this peptide, nonproteogenic aromatic amino acids have been selected based on desired alterations in quadrupole moment, electrostatic potential surface, and binding energy to ions. These were built into the peptide in the place of tryptophan and their effect on switch behavior examined. It could be shown that a minimal strength of the quadrupole moment is necessary but not sufficient to enforce cooperativity of refolding, with other properties of tryptophan playing a role in the optimum interaction of this residue with other side chains of the peptide.