eesnyder@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Eric E. Snyder) (05/02/91)
I heard an interesting talk last night... just in passing, the speaker mentioned an invertebrate protein containing 17% dihydroxyphenylalanine (aka DOPA)! I couldn't believe this... Have I been living under a rock for the last 25 yrs? How common is this protein modification? Is it post-translational? Does it occur in vertebrates? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TTGATTGCTAAACACTGGGCGGCGAATCAGGGTTGGGATCTGAACAAAGACGGTCAGATTCAGTTCGTACTGCTG Eric E. Snyder Department of MCD Biology ...making feet for childrens' shoes. University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, Colorado 80309-0347 LeuIleAlaLysHisTrpAlaAlaAsnGlnGlyTrpAspLeuAsnLysAspGlyGlnIleGlnPheValLeuLeu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
winalski@psw.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski) (05/03/91)
In article <eesnyder.673196910@beagle>, eesnyder@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Eric E. Snyder) writes: |> |>I heard an interesting talk last night... just in passing, |>the speaker mentioned an invertebrate protein containing |>17% dihydroxyphenylalanine (aka DOPA)! I couldn't believe |>this... |> |>Have I been living under a rock for the last 25 yrs? |> I guess so. My early-1970s edition of Lehninger's Biochemistry text discusses this sort of thing. |>How common is this protein modification? |> Exotic amino acids seem to be quite common in structural proteins, such as chitin in arthropods and collagen and elastin in vertebrates. |>Is it post-translational? |> Yes. The amino acid residues are normal phenylalanine after translation. The modification to DOPA occurs by enzymatic modification of the residues after the protein is transcribed. |>Does it occur in vertebrates? |> I don't know about this particular case, but the general process (enzymatic formation of exotic amino acids from normal amino acids after translation) does occur in vertebrates. --PSW