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Conformational studies on enkephalins using the MOLS technique
Author(s) -
Vengadesan K.,
Gautham N.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.20021
Subject(s) - chemistry , stereochemistry
Conformational studies of two linear enkephalin molecules, Met‐enkephalin and Leu‐enkephalin, have been carried using the mutually orthogonal Latin squares (MOLS) technique with the ECEPP/3 force field. This technique was developed recently in our laboratory to perform an unbiased search of the conformational space of peptides and to locate low energy conformations. The present study identified all the folds predicted by other studies, and in addition picked up other energetically favorable structures. The results suggest that the peptide backbone exists as a mixture of folded and unfolded forms (approximately 50% each). The study also provides information on the distribution of the low energy conformations that we have classified on the basis of structural motifs, backbone hydrogen‐bonding patterns, and root mean square deviations in atomic positions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers, 2004