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Measuring the Elasticity of Poly-l-Proline Helices with Terahertz Spectroscopy

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


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Authors

Ruggiero, Michael T 
Sibik, Juraj 
Orlando, Roberto 
Zeitler, J Axel 
Korter, Timothy M 

Abstract

The rigidity of poly‐l‐proline is an important contributor to the stability of many protein secondary structures, where it has been shown to strongly influence bulk flexibility. The experimental Young's moduli of two known poly‐l‐proline helical forms, right‐handed all‐cis (Form I) and left‐handed all‐trans (Form II), were determined in the crystalline state by using an approach that combines terahertz time‐domain spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and solid‐state density functional theory. Contrary to expectations, the helices were found to be considerably less rigid than many other natural and synthetic polymers, as well as differing greatly from each other, with Young's moduli of 4.9 and 9.6 GPa for Forms I and II, respectively.

Description

Keywords

spectroscopy, elasticity, proteins, biopolymer, density functional theory

Journal Title

Angewandte Chemie

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0044-8249
1521-3757

Volume Title

128

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J007803/1)
M.T.R. and T.M.K acknowledge the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation (CHE-1301068). T.M.K. would like to acknowledge the Royal Society International Exchanges Scheme as well as the Royal Society of Chemistry JWT Jones Travelling Fellowship for support. J.S. and J.A.Z. would like to acknowledge the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J007803/1) for funding.