rmorelan Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hopefully a quick question for a bio chem newbie. Which amino acid residues in a protein can engage in hydrogen bonding? Is the question Don't all amino acid residues still have a c=o in them, and therefore all should be able to hydrogen bond? Or is there an amino acid with some brand of weirdness I don't understand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsemmapeel Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Its mainly the sidechain parts of an amino acid that will contribute in hydrogen bonds, look for the ones that have O o N at the end of their side chains Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 oh I agree, that is actually the second part of the question - what R groups can hydrogen bond). The first part is specifically asks which residues can. I was thinking since they all have that c=o then they all must be able to, regardless of what R group they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ennui Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Think about the secondary structures. First consider the polypeptide backbone, and then consider the side-chains. In a beta-sheet you get hydrogen bonding whatever the R-group (except proline); and in alpha-helices you get hydrogen bonding all the way up the helix. You need to ask yourself which amino acids can be H-bond acceptors/donors. E.g. Do any have nitrogen or oxygen in their R-groups? Find a table of the amino acids online and have a careful think about their groups. You might also want to consider Pi-orbital stacking in Phenylalanine/Tyrosine residues. Hope this helps! Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratatosk Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 You might also want to consider Pi-orbital stacking in Phenylalanine/Tyrosine residues. That was good advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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