CONFORMATION OF SMALL PEPTIDES IN SOLUTION

DysonandWrighthaveused2DNMRtodeterminetheconformations of small penta-peptides in solution. Remarkably, some of these peptides have a single favored conformation. We are in the process of generating an ensemble of possible conformations and calculating their conformational energies to see if we can account for the experimental observations. If we are successful, we will suggest new peptides to be studied in an attempt to see if our methods have predictive power. This project is one part of a larger effort going on in the Center to elucidate the energetic basis of protein folding and to develop prediction algorithms.