Quantifying the Interactions that Contribute to beta-Hairpin Folding

The intrinsic conformational biases of individual amino acids and their interstrand side-chain-side-chain (SC-SC) interactions both contribute to the stability of beta-sheets. The relative magnitudes of these effects have been difficult to assess in the context of folded proteins, where tertiary contacts complicate the quantitative analysis of local effects. We now report the results of such an analysis in a much simpler system, a short, stabilized beta-hairpin structure where intrastrand (conformational) and interstrand (SC-SC) influences can be distinguished in the absence of competing protein tertiary interactions. A comprehensive comparison of all pairwise combinations of 11 N-terminal and 7 C-terminal amino acids within an 8-residue, @-tide-stabilized [in which @ denotes the 1,2-dihydro-3(6H)-pyridinyl unit] P-hairpin reveals distinct differences between the various pairings and shows that the intrastrand and interstrand effects are of comparable magnitude in contributing to the stability of the folded forms over the unfolded forms.