Designing amino acids to determine the local conformations of peptides.

The local conformations of proteins and peptides are determined by the amino acid sequence. However, the 20 amino acids encoded by the genome allow the peptide backbone to fold into many conformations, so that even for a small peptide it becomes very difficult to predict the three-dimensional structure. By using empirical conformational energy calculations, a set of amino acids has been designed that would be expected to constrain the conformation of a peptide or a protein to one or two local minima. Most of these amino acids are based on asymmetric substitutions at the C alpha atom of each residue. The H alpha atom of alanine was replaced by various groups: -OCH3, -NCH3, -SCH3, -CONH2, -CONHCH3, -CON(CH3)2, -NH.CO.CH3, -phenyl, or -o-(OCH3)phenyl. Several of these new amino acids are predicted to fold into unique peptide conformations such as right-handed alpha-helical, left-handed alpha-helical, or extended. In an attempt to produce an amino acid that favored the C(eq)7 conformation (torsion angles: phi = -70 degrees and psi = +70 degrees), an extra amide group was added to the C beta atom of the asparagine side chain. Conformationally restricted amino acids of this type could prove useful for developing new peptide pharmaceuticals, catalysts, or polymers.