PMID: 7656005

Authors:

Derewenda U, Swenson L, Green R, Wei Y, Dodson GG, Yamaguchi S, Haas MJ, Derewenda ZS

Title:

An unusual buried polar cluster in a family of fungal lipases.

Journal:

Nat Struct Biol. 1994 Jan;1(1):36-47.

Abstract:

The stability of globular proteins arises largely from the burial of non-polar amino acids in their interior. These residues are efficiently packed to eliminate energetically unfavorable cavities. Contrary to these observations, high resolution X-ray crystallographic analyses of four homologous lipases from filamentous fungi reveal an alpha/beta fold which contains a buried conserved constellation of charged and polar side chains with associated cavities containing ordered water molecules. It is possible that this structural arrangement plays an important role in interfacial catalysis.