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Biomedical subjects

H E Bosshard

Publications and source records attributed to H E Bosshard.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

A computer graphics study of multistranded DNA models.

A range of related nucleic acid models has been built using the computer graphics system at EMBL (Heidelberg). The relationship between these models is considered in terms of a simple "core" structure. One of these models is a four-strand structure in which two duplexes of the Watson-Crick kind are specifically related by a twofold rotation axis and which has already been discussed in some detail. The models fall into two principal classes. In one, each sugar phosphate chain is attached to every layer of bases in the "core" structure; in the other, each chain is attached to alternate layers of bases. Several of the models discussed have specificity both of complementarity and of identity.

Computer Graphics

Structural models of the evolutionarily conservative central domain of silk-moth chorion proteins.

Silk-moth chorion proteins belong to a small number of families: A, B, C, Hc-A and Hc-B. The central domain is an evolutionarily conservative region in each family, of variable length and composition between families. This domain shows clear 6-fold periodicities for various amino acid residues, e.g. glycine. The periodicities, together with the well-documented prevalence of beta-sheet and beta-turn secondary structure of chorion proteins, strongly support a structural model in which four-residue beta-strands alternate with beta-turns, forming a compact antiparallel, probably twisted beta-sheet. Conformational analysis, aided by interactive graphics refinement and recent experimental findings, further suggest that this structure consists of beta-strands, alternating with I' and II' beta-turns, and apparently forms the basis for the molecular and supramolecular assembly of chorion.

Amino Acid Sequence