KNOTTED PROTEINS
Olesya V. Stepanenko,1,* G.S. Bublikov,1 Olga V. Stepanenko,1 G.N. Rychkov,2,3
O.I. Povarova,1 V.V. Verkhusha,4 K.K. Turoverov,1,3 I.M. Kuznetsova 1
1 Institute of Cytology RAS, St. Petersburg,
2 St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute NRC «Kurchatov Institute», Gatchina,
3 St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University, and 4 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA;
* e-mail: lvs@incras.ru
For a long time the presence of knots in a protein structure was not admitted. However, the existence of
proteins with various types of knots has now been proven. The functional significance of knotted topology remains
unclear despite numerous assumptions. Studing the structure of knots in proteins and their impact on the
acquisition of native structure of proteins is important for the understanding of protein folding as a whole. We
review the types of knots in the proteins discovered to date, including trefoil knot, figure-of-eight knot, and
more complex knots with 5 and 6 crossings of polypeptide chain. We survey the folding of knotted proteins as
well.
Key words:
knot, protein folding, trefoil knot, figure-of-eight knot, complex knots with 5 and 6 crossings
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