Citation
Weinzierl, Jon Edward (1969) I. The 3.7 Å Crystal Structure of Horse Heart Ferricytochrome C. II. The Application of the Karle-Hauptman Tangent Formula to Protein Phasing. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/TX4H-5788. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:01252016-155336507
Abstract
I. The 3.7 Å Crystal Structure of Horse Heart Ferricytochrome C.
The crystal structure of horse heart ferricytochrome c has been determined to a resolution of 3.7 Å using the multiple isomorphous replacement technique. Two isomorphous derivatives were used in the analysis, leading to a map with a mean figure of merit of 0.458. The quality of the resulting map was extremely high, even though the derivative data did not appear to be of high quality.
Although it was impossible to fit the known amino acid sequence to the calculated structure in an unambiguous way, many important features of the molecule could still be determined from the 3.7 Å electron density map. Among these was the fact that cytochrome c contains little or no α-helix. The polypeptide chain appears to be wound about the heme group in such a way as to form a loosely packed hydrophobic core in the molecule.
The heme group is located in a cleft on the molecule with one edge exposed to the solvent. The fifth coordinating ligand is His 18 and the sixth coordinating ligand is probably neither His 26 nor His 33.
The high resolution analysis of cytochrome c is now in progress and should be completed within the next year.
II. The Application of the Karle-Hauptman Tangent Formula to Protein Phasing.
The Karle-Hauptman tangent formula has been shown to be applicable to the refinement of previously determined protein phases. Tests were made with both the cytochrome c data from Part I and a theoretical structure based on the myoglobin molecule. The refinement process was found to be highly dependent upon the manner in which the tangent formula was applied. Iterative procedures did not work well, at least at low resolution.
The tangent formula worked very well in selecting the true phase from the two possible phase choices resulting from a single isomorphous replacement phase analysis. The only restriction on this application is that the heavy atoms form a non-centric cluster in the unit cell.
Pages 156 through 284 in this Thesis consist of previously published papers relating to the above two sections. References to these papers can be found on page 155.
Item Type: | Thesis (Dissertation (Ph.D.)) | ||||||
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Subject Keywords: | (Chemistry) | ||||||
Degree Grantor: | California Institute of Technology | ||||||
Division: | Chemistry and Chemical Engineering | ||||||
Major Option: | Chemistry | ||||||
Thesis Availability: | Public (worldwide access) | ||||||
Research Advisor(s): |
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Thesis Committee: |
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Defense Date: | 8 July 1968 | ||||||
Funders: |
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Record Number: | CaltechTHESIS:01252016-155336507 | ||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:01252016-155336507 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.7907/TX4H-5788 | ||||||
Default Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||
ID Code: | 9547 | ||||||
Collection: | CaltechTHESIS | ||||||
Deposited By: | INVALID USER | ||||||
Deposited On: | 02 Feb 2016 16:13 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 06 May 2024 22:45 |
Thesis Files
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PDF (Weinzierl Part I)
- Final Version
See Usage Policy. 34MB | |
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PDF (Weinzierl Part II)
- Final Version
See Usage Policy. 50MB |
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