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Assessed Assignment 2: Answer the following questions

1. Define the term 'chiral centre' as applied to amino-acids. Which amino-acids have chiral centres that are not alpha-carbon atoms?

2. Where are the highest B factors to be found in a protein molecule in a crystal structure? Why is this? Are certain amino-acids more likely to have high B factors than others?

3. What are the two commonest tertiary structure arrangements of proteins which consist of alternate helix/sheet along the protein chain?

4. What is the Ca²⁺ ion binding motif associated with a E-F hand?

5. Which residue causes an alpha-helix to kink or distort and why?

6. What types of symmetries are involved in protein quaternary structure?

7. Which, in your opinion, is/are the most hydrophobic amino-acid(s) and why?

Last updated 12th July '96