Computer simulations of cyclic enkephalin analogues

Molecular dynamics simulations and energy minimization studies of cyclic enkephalin analogues incorporating retro-inverso modifications have been carried out. The dynamic trajectories are analyzed in terms of the relative mobility of the 14-membered rings, conformational transitions among equilibrium states, and hydrogen-bonding patterns. The cyclization of the molecules reduces the motion of the ring structures substantially. Time-correlated conformational transitions resulting in the reorientation of peptide units are observed. Hydrogen bonds form principally C7 structures. Because of the incorporation of retro-inverso residues, C6 and C8 structures are also formed. Starting conformations for energy minimizations were obtained from the molecular dynamics simulations and from a systematic search of the conformational space available to the molecules. Several minimum energy backbone and side-chain conformations were found for each analogue. The effect of retro-inverso residues on hydrogen-bonding patterns and backbone conformations is discussed.     

Criteria that discriminate between native proteins and incorrectly folded models

Various theoretical concepts, such as free energy potentials, electrostatic interaction potentials, atomic packing, solvent-exposed surface, and surface charge distribution, were tested for their ability to discriminate between native proteins and misfolded protein models. Misfolded models were constructed by introducing incorrect side chains onto polypeptide backbones: side chains of the alpha-helical hemerythrin were modeled on the beta-sheeted backbone of immunoglobulin VL domain, whereas those of the VL domain were similarly modeled on the hemerythrin backbone. CONGEN, a conformational space sampling program, was used to construct the side chains, in contrast to the previous work, where incorrect side chains were modeled in all trans conformations. Capability of the conformational search procedure to reproduce native conformations was gauged first by rebuilding (the correct) side chains in hemerythrin and the VL domain: constructs with r.m.s. differences from the x-ray side chains 2.2-2.4 A were produced, and many calculated conformations matched the native ones quite well. Incorrectly folded models were then constructed by the same conformational protocol applied to incorrect amino acid sequences. All CONGEN constructs, both correctly and incorrectly folded, were characterized by exceptionally small molecular surfaces and low potential energies. Surface charge density, atomic packing, and Coulomb formula-based electrostatic interactions of the misfolded structures and the correctly folded proteins were similar, and therefore of little interest for diagnosing incorrect folds. The following criteria clearly favored the native structures over the misfolded ones: 1) solvent-exposed side-chain nonpolar surface, 2) number of buried ionizable groups, and 3) empirical free energy functions that incorporate solvent effects.     

Molecular dynamics investigations of the polysaccharide scleroglucan: first study on the triple helix structure

Explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on the triple helix of the polysaccharide Scleroglucan (Sclg) at two temperatures (273 and 300 K) were carried out. Owing to the complexity of the system, a united-atom force field, based on the properly modified GROMACS parameters, was adopted. To test these parameters for our system, MD simulations of the two disaccharidic units, representing the main chain and the side-chain linkages of the Sclg repeating unit, were performed and the results were compared with the literature data. The simulated triple helix of Sclg retained the main experimentally determined features of the polymer. The residence times of the solvent molecules at 273 and 300 K were analyzed. The results show that the more internal water molecules, interacting with the core of the Sclg triplex are not influenced substantially by changing the temperature, on the contrary the water molecules, interacting with the side-chain glucose residues show more significant differences. These data suggest that the more external water molecules, interacting with the side chain, play a major role in the conformational transition experimentally observed at low temperature.     

Retention of Conformational Entropy upon Calmodulin Binding to Target Peptides Is Driven by Transient Salt Bridges

Calmodulin (CaM) is a highly flexible calcium-binding protein that mediates signal transduction through an ability to differentially bind to highly variable binding sequences in target proteins. To identify how binding affects CaM motions, and its relationship to conformational entropy and target peptide sequence, we have employed fully atomistic, explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations of unbound CaM and CaM bound to five different target peptides. The calculated CaM conformational binding entropies correlate with experimentally derived conformational entropies with a correlation coefficient R² of 0.95. Selected side-chain interactions with target peptides restrain interhelical loop motions, acting to tune the conformational entropy of the bound complex via widely distributed CaM motions. In the complex with the most conformational entropy retention (CaM in complex with the neuronal nitric oxide synthase binding sequence), Lys-148 at the C-terminus of CaM forms transient salt bridges alternating between Glu side chains in the N-domain, the central linker, and the binding target. Additional analyses of CaM structures, fluctuations, and CaM-target interactions illuminate the interplay between electrostatic, side chain, and backbone properties in the ability of CaM to recognize and discriminate against targets by tuning its conformational entropy, and suggest a need to consider conformational dynamics in optimizing binding affinities.     

Protein design simulations suggest that side-chain conformational entropy is not a strong determinant of amino acid environmental preferences

Loss of side-chain conformational entropy is an important force opposing protein folding and the relative preferences of the amino acids for being buried or solvent exposed may be partially determined by which amino acids lose more side-chain entropy when placed in the core of a protein. To investigate these preferences, we have incorporated explicit modeling of side-chain entropy into the protein design algorithm, RosettaDesign. In the standard version of the program, the energy of a particular sequence for a fixed backbone depends only on the lowest energy side-chain conformations that can be identified for that sequence. In the new model, the free energy of a single amino acid sequence is calculated by evaluating the average energy and entropy of an ensemble of structures generated by Monte Carlo sampling of amino acid side-chain conformations. To evaluate the impact of including explicit side-chain entropy, sequences were designed for 110 native protein backbones with and without the entropy model. In general, the differences between the two sets of sequences are modest, with the largest changes being observed for the longer amino acids: methionine and arginine. Overall, the identity between the designed sequences and the native sequences does not increase with the addition of entropy, unlike what is observed when other key terms are added to the model (hydrogen bonding, Lennard-Jones energies, and solvation energies). These results suggest that side-chain conformational entropy has a relatively small role in determining the preferred amino acid at each residue position in a protein.     

The impact of protein flexibility on protein-protein docking

Accounting for protein flexibility in protein-protein docking algorithms is challenging, and most algorithms therefore treat proteins as rigid bodies or permit side-chain motion only. While the consequences are obvious when there are large conformational changes upon binding, the situation is less clear for the modest conformational changes that occur upon formation of most protein-protein complexes. We have therefore studied the impact of local protein flexibility on protein-protein association by means of rigid body and torsion angle dynamics simulation. The binding of barnase and barstar was chosen as a model system for this study, because the complexation of these 2 proteins is well-characterized experimentally, and the conformational changes accompanying binding are modest. On the side-chain level, we show that the orientation of particular residues at the interface (so-called hotspot residues) have a crucial influence on the way contacts are established during docking from short protein separations of approximately 5 A. However, side-chain torsion angle dynamics simulations did not result in satisfactory docking of the proteins when using the unbound protein structures. This can be explained by our observations that, on the backbone level, even small (2 A) local loop deformations affect the dynamics of contact formation upon docking. Complementary shape-based docking calculations confirm this result, which indicates that both side-chain and backbone levels of flexibility influence short-range protein-protein association and should be treated simultaneously for atomic-detail computational docking of proteins.     

Backrub-like backbone simulation recapitulates natural protein conformational variability and improves mutant side-chain prediction

Incorporation of effective backbone sampling into protein simulation and design is an important step in increasing the accuracy of computational protein modeling. Recent analysis of high-resolution crystal structures has suggested a new model, termed backrub, to describe localized, hinge-like alternative backbone and side-chain conformations observed in the crystal lattice. The model involves internal backbone rotations about axes between C-alpha atoms. Based on this observation, we have implemented a backrub-inspired sampling method in the Rosetta structure prediction and design program. We evaluate this model of backbone flexibility using three different tests. First, we show that Rosetta backrub simulations recapitulate the correlation between backbone and side-chain conformations in the high-resolution crystal structures upon which the model was based. As a second test of backrub sampling, we show that backbone flexibility improves the accuracy of predicting point-mutant side-chain conformations over fixed backbone rotameric sampling alone. Finally, we show that backrub sampling of triosephosphate isomerase loop 6 can capture the millisecond/microsecond oscillation between the open and closed states observed in solution. Our results suggest that backrub sampling captures a sizable fraction of localized conformational changes that occur in natural proteins. Application of this simple model of backbone motions may significantly improve both protein design and atomistic simulations of localized protein flexibility.     

Progress in protein-protein docking: atomic resolution predictions in the CAPRI experiment using RosettaDock with an improved treatment of side-chain flexibility

RosettaDock uses real-space Monte Carlo minimization (MCM) on both rigid-body and side-chain degrees of freedom to identify the lowest free energy docked arrangement of 2 protein structures. An improved version of the method that uses gradient-based minimization for off-rotamer side-chain optimization and includes information from unbound structures was used to create predictions for Rounds 4 and 5 of CAPRI. First, large numbers of independent MCM trajectories were carried out and the lowest free energy docked configurations identified. Second, new trajectories were started from these lowest energy structures to thoroughly sample the surrounding conformation space, and the lowest energy configurations were submitted as predictions. For all cases in which there were no significant backbone conformational changes, a small number of very low-energy configurations were identified in the first, global search and subsequently found to be close to the center of the basin of attraction in the free energy landscape in the second, local search. Following the release of the experimental coordinates, it was found that the centers of these free energy minima were remarkably close to the native structures in not only the rigid-body orientation but also the detailed conformations of the side-chains. Out of 8 targets, the lowest energy models had interface root-mean-square deviations (RMSDs) less than 1.1 A from the correct structures for 6 targets, and interface RMSDs less than 0.4 A for 3 targets. The predictions were top submissions to CAPRI for Targets 11, 12, 14, 15, and 19. The close correspondence of the lowest free energy structures found in our searches to the experimental structures suggests that our free energy function is a reasonable representation of the physical chemistry, and that the real space search with full side-chain flexibility to some extent solves the protein-protein docking problem in the absence of significant backbone conformational changes. On the other hand, the approach fails when there are significant backbone conformational changes as the steric complementarity of the 2 proteins cannot be modeled without incorporating backbone flexibility, and this is the major goal of our current work.     

PPM: a side-chain and backbone chemical shift predictor for the assessment of protein conformational ensembles

The combination of the wide availability of protein backbone and side-chain NMR chemical shifts with advances in understanding of their relationship to protein structure makes these parameters useful for the assessment of structural-dynamic protein models. A new chemical shift predictor (PPM) is introduced, which is solely based on physical?Cchemical contributions to the chemical shifts for both the protein backbone and methyl-bearing amino-acid side chains. To explicitly account for the effects of protein dynamics on chemical shifts, PPM was directly refined against 100?ns long molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of 35 proteins with known experimental NMR chemical shifts. It is found that the prediction of methyl-proton chemical shifts by PPM from MD ensembles is improved over other methods, while backbone C??, C??, C??, N, and H^N chemical shifts are predicted at an accuracy comparable to the latest generation of chemical shift prediction programs. PPM is particularly suitable for the rapid evaluation of large protein conformational ensembles on their consistency with experimental NMR data and the possible improvement of protein force fields from chemical shifts.     

Accuracy of side-chain prediction upon near-native protein backbones generated by ab initio folding methods

The ab initio folding problem can be divided into two sequential tasks of approximately equal computational complexity: the generation of native-like backbone folds and the positioning of side chains upon these backbones. The prediction of side-chain conformation in this context is challenging, because at best only the near-native global fold of the protein is known. To test the effect of displacements in the protein backbones on side-chain prediction for folds generated ab initio, sets of near-native backbones (≤ 4 Å Cα RMS error) for four small proteins were generated by two methods. The steric environment surrounding each residue was probed by placing the side chains in the native conformation on each of these decoys, followed by torsion-space optimization to remove steric clashes on a rigid backbone. We observe that on average 40% of the χ1 angles were displaced by 40° or more, effectively setting the limits in accuracy for side-chain modeling under these conditions. Three different algorithms were subsequently used for prediction of side-chain conformation. The average prediction accuracy for the three methods was remarkably similar: 49% to 51% of the χ1 angles were predicted correctly overall (33% to 36% of the χ1+2 angles). Interestingly, when the inter-side-chain interactions were disregarded, the mean accuracy increased. A consensus approach is described, in which side-chain conformations are defined based on the most frequently predicted χ angles for a given method upon each set of near-native backbones. We find that consensus modeling, which de facto includes backbone flexibility, improves side-chain prediction: χ1 accuracy improved to 51–54% (36–42% of χ1+2). Implications of a consensus method for ab initio protein structure prediction are discussed. Proteins 33:204–217, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

A simple model of backbone flexibility improves modeling of side-chain conformational variability

The considerable flexibility of side-chains in folded proteins is important for protein stability and function, and may have a role in mediating allosteric interactions. While sampling side-chain degrees of freedom has been an integral part of several successful computational protein design methods, the predictions of these approaches have not been directly compared to experimental measurements of side-chain motional amplitudes. In addition, protein design methods frequently keep the backbone fixed, an approximation that may substantially limit the ability to accurately model side-chain flexibility. Here, we describe a Monte Carlo approach to modeling side-chain conformational variability and validate our method against a large dataset of methyl relaxation order parameters derived from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments (17 proteins and a total of 530 data points). We also evaluate a model of backbone flexibility based on Backrub motions, a type of conformational change frequently observed in ultra-high-resolution X-ray structures that accounts for correlated side-chain backbone movements. The fixed-backbone model performs reasonably well with an overall rmsd between computed and predicted side-chain order parameters of 0.26. Notably, including backbone flexibility leads to significant improvements in modeling side-chain order parameters for ten of the 17 proteins in the set. Greater accuracy of the flexible backbone model results from both increases and decreases in side-chain flexibility relative to the fixed-backbone model. This simple flexible-backbone model should be useful for a variety of protein design applications, including improved modeling of protein-protein interactions, design of proteins with desired flexibility or rigidity, and prediction of correlated motions within proteins.     

Entropy Hotspots for the Binding of Intrinsically Disordered Ligands to a Receptor Domain

Proline-rich motifs (PRMs) are widely used for mediating protein-protein interactions with weak binding affinities. Because they are intrinsically disordered when unbound, conformational entropy plays a significant role for the binding. However, residue-level differences of the entropic contribution in the binding of different ligands remain not well understood. We use all-atom molecular dynamics simulation and the maximal information spanning tree formalism to analyze conformational entropy associated with the binding of two PRMs, one from the Abl kinase and the other from the nonstructural protein 1 of the 1918 Spanish influenza A virus, to the N-terminal SH3 (nSH3) domain of the CrkII protein. Side chains of the stably folded nSH3 experience more entropy change upon ligand binding than the backbone, whereas PRMs involve comparable but heterogeneous entropy changes among the backbone and side chains. In nSH3, two conserved nonpolar residues forming contacts with the PRM experience the largest side-chain entropy loss. In contrast, the C-terminal charged residues of PRMs that form polar contacts with nSH3 experience the greatest side-chain entropy loss, although their “fuzzy” nature is attributable to the backbone that remains relatively flexible. Thus, residues that form high-occupancy contacts between nSH3 and PRM do not reciprocally contribute to entropy loss. Furthermore, certain surface residues of nSH3 distal to the interface with PRMs gain entropy, indicating a nonlocal effect of ligand binding. Comparing between the PRMs from cAbl and nonstructural protein 1, the latter involves a larger side-chain entropy loss and forms more contacts with nSH3. Consistent with experiments, this indicates stronger binding of the viral ligand at the expense of losing the flexibility of side chains, whereas the backbone experiences less entropy loss. The entropy “hotspots” as identified in this study will be important for tuning the binding affinity of various ligands to a receptor.     

Solution structure and dynamics of cartilage aggrecan

We studied the structure and dynamics of porcine laryngeal aggrecan in solution using a range of noninvasive techniques: dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), video particle tracking (VPT) microrheology, and diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS). The data are analyzed within the framework of a combined static and dynamic scaling model, and evidence is found for reptation of the comb backbones with unentangled side-chain dynamics. Small-angle neutron scattering indicated standard polyelectrolyte scaling of the mesh size (xi) with concentration (c) in semidilute solutions for the whole aggrecan aggregate, xi = Ac(-0.47+/-0.04), with the prefactor (A) implying there is on average 60 nm between the aggrecan subunits along the backbone. VPT demonstrated large exponents for the power law dependence of the intrinsic viscosity (eta) on the polymer concentration in the semidilute concentration regime, eta approximately c(alpha); with alpha equal to 2.04 +/- 0.06 and 1.95 +/- 0.08 for the assembled and disassembled aggrecan aggregates, respectively. DWS at high frequencies (10(4)-10(5) Hz) gave evidence for internal Rouse modes of the aggrecan monomers, independent of the degree of self-assembly of the molecules.     

The ribbon of hydrogen bonds and the pseudomolecule in the three-dimensional structure of globular proteins. III. Bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A and bovine seminal ribonuclease

The model of the three-dimensional structure of globular proteins, which is based on a ribbon of hydrogen bonds along the whole of the backbone, is now applied to the comparison between monomeric bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A and dimeric bovine seminal ribonuclease. Some waters are involved in the hydrogen bonding of the ribbon, and the protein molecule plus these waters forms a pseudomolecule. The conformations of the three backbones are essentially identical and the three ribbons of hydrogen bonds are conserved with greater than 90% accuracy. We suggest that the conservation of the backbone conformations of the two molecules is a consequence of the conservation of the ribbons of hydrogen bonds. There are 16 simple mutations between the two molecules, of which 15 involve only side-chain groups with no more than one hydrogen bond to the backbone. Such mutations are not sufficient to change the ribbon of hydrogen bonds and hence there is no change in the backbone conformation. Generalizing this result, we suggest that the conservation of the ribbon is the reason why single point mutations rarely change the conformation of the backbone of the globular proteins.     

Cyclic retro-inverso dipeptides with two aromatic side chains. II. Conformational analysis.

The conformations of cis and trans cyclic retro-inverso dipeptides--2-[(4-hydroxy)benzyl]-5-benzyl-4,6(1H,2H,3H,5H)-pyrimidinedi one (c[mTyr-gPhe]), and 2-benzyl-5-amino-5-[(4-hydroxy)benzyl]-4,6(1H,2H,3H,5H)-pyrimidinedione (c[mTyr-gPhe]), and 2-benzyl-5-amino-5-[(4-hydroxy)benzyl]-4,6(1H,2H,3H,5H)-pyrimidinedione (c[(alpha-amino)mTyr-gPhe])--and the parent cyclic dipeptides--c[tyrosyl-phenylalanine] (cis-c[L-Tyr-L-Phe]) and c[tyrosyl-D-phenylalanine] (trans-c[L-Tyr-D-Phe])--were studied by using 1H-nmr spectroscopy and semiempirical energy calculations. In the cis compounds of all the cyclic retro-inverso and parent dipeptides, the most stable conformer has both aromatic side chains sharing the space over the backbone ring in a "face-to-face" fashion. All the trans compounds predominantly assume a "sandwich" conformation in which the two aromatic rings are folded back over the backbone ring on opposite sides. However, different conformational preferences were observed for the backbones between the retro-inverso and parent cyclic dipeptides. The parent cyclic dipeptide trans-c[L-Tyr-D-Phe] adopts two types of boat structures with different side-chain orientations in almost equal amounts: one with the Tyr side chain in a pseudoaxial position and the Phe side chain in a pseudoequatorial position, the other with the Tyr side chain in a pseudoequatorial position and the Phe side chain in a pseudoaxial position. On the other hand, the cyclic retro-inverso dipeptides trans-c[mPhe-gTyr] and trans c[mTyr-gPhe] assume only one type of boat structure in which the malonyl side chain is in a pseudoequatorial and the gem-diamino side chain is in a pseudoaxial position. In addition to the preferred conformations, the conformational energies of the C alpha--C beta bonds in the malonyl and gem-diamino residues were estimated from the temperature variation of vicinal 1H--1H coupling constants for the H--C alpha--C beta--H groupings observed for the trans isomers of cyclic retro-inverso dipeptides. The energies were evaluated to be 1.1 and 1.8 kcal mol-1 for the malonyl and gem-diamino residues, respectively. Applying these energies to the parent cyclic dipeptide trans-c[L-Tyr-D-Phe], the observed fractions of three side-chain conformations are reasonably reproduced. The conformational energies as well as conformational properties of the molecules estimated in this investigation may be useful to refine force constants for both parent and retro-inverso peptides with aromatic side chains.     

Residue-specific side-chain packing determines the backbone dynamics of transmembrane model helices

The transmembrane domains (TMDs) of membrane-fusogenic proteins contain an overabundance of β-branched residues. In a previous effort to systematically study the relation among valine content, fusogenicity, and helix dynamics, we developed model TMDs that we termed LV-peptides. The content and position of valine in LV-peptides determine their fusogenicity and backbone dynamics, as shown experimentally. Here, we analyze their conformational dynamics and the underlying molecular forces using molecular-dynamics simulations. Our study reveals that backbone dynamics is correlated with the efficiency of side-chain to side-chain van der Waals packing between consecutive turns of the helix. Leu side chains rapidly interconvert between two rotameric states, thus favoring contacts to its i±3 and i±4 neighbors. Stereochemical restraints acting on valine side chains in the α-helix force both β-substituents into an orientation where i,i±3 interactions are less favorable than i,i±4 interactions, thus inducing a local packing deficiency at VV3 motifs. We provide a quantitative molecular model to explain the relationship among chain connectivity, side-chain mobility, and backbone flexibility. We expect that this mechanism also defines the backbone flexibility of natural TMDs.     

Side-chain entropy effects on protein secondary structure formation

Loss of conformational entropy is one of the primary factors opposing protein folding. Both the backbone and side-chain of each residue in a protein will have their freedom of motion restricted in the final folded structure. The type of secondary structure of which a residue is part will have a significant impact on how much side-chain entropy is lost. Side-chain conformational entropies have previously been determined for folded proteins, simple models of unfolded proteins, alpha-helices, and a dipeptide model for beta-strands, but not for polyproline II (PII) helices. In this work, we present side-chain conformational estimates for the three regular secondary structure types: alpha-helices, beta-strands, and PII helices. Entropies are estimated from Monte Carlo computer simulations. Beta-strands are modeled as two structures, parallel and antiparallel beta-strands. Our data indicate that restraining a residue to the PII helix or antiparallel beta-strand conformations results in side-chain entropies equal to or higher than those obtained by restraining residues to the parallel beta-strand conformation. Side-chains in the alpha-helix conformation have the lowest side-chain entropies. The observation that extended structures retain the most side-chain entropy suggests that such structures would be entropically favored in unfolded proteins under folding conditions. Our data indicate that the PII helix conformation would be somewhat favored over beta-strand conformations, with antiparallel beta-strand favored over parallel. Notably, our data imply that, under some circumstances, residues may gain side-chain entropy upon folding. Implications of our findings for protein folding and unfolded states are discussed.     

Side-chain conformational entropy in protein unfolded states

The largest force disfavoring the folding of a protein is the loss of conformational entropy. A large contribution to this entropy loss is due to the side-chains, which are restricted, although not immobilized, in the folded protein. In order to accurately estimate the loss of side-chain conformational entropy that occurs upon folding it is necessary to have accurate estimates of the amount of entropy possessed by side-chains in the ensemble of unfolded states. A new scale of side-chain conformational entropies is presented here. This scale was derived from Monte Carlo computer simulations of small peptide models. It is demonstrated that the entropies are independent of host peptide length. This new scale has the advantage over previous scales of being more precise with low standard errors. Better estimates are obtained for long (e.g., Arg and Lys) and rare (e.g., Trp and Met) side-chains. Excellent agreement with previous side-chain entropy scales is achieved, indicating that further advancements in accuracy are likely to be small at best. Strikingly, longer side-chains are found to possess a smaller fraction of the theoretical maximum entropy available than short side-chains. This indicates that rotations about torsions after chi(2) are significantly affected by side-chain interactions with the polypeptide backbone. This finding invalidates previous assumptions about side-chain-backbone interactions. Proteins 2000;40:443-450.     

Hydrogen bonds between short polar side chains and peptide backbone: prevalence in proteins and effects on helix-forming propensities

A survey of 322 proteins showed that the short polar (SP) side chains of four residues, Thr, Ser, Asp, and Asn, have a very strong tendency to form hydrogen bonds with neighboring backbone amides. Specifically, 32% of Thr, 29% of Ser, 26% of Asp, and 19% of Asn engage in such hydrogen bonds. When an SP residue caps the N terminal of a helix, the contribution to helix stability by a hydrogen bond with the amide of the N3 or N2 residue is well established. When an SP residue is in the middle of a helix, the side chain is unlikely to form hydrogen bonds with neighboring backbone amides for steric and geometric reasons. In essence the SP side chain competes with the backbone carbonyl for the same hydrogen-bonding partner (i.e., the backbone amide) and thus SP residues tend to break backbone carbonyl-amide hydrogen bonds. The proposition that this is the origin for the low propensities of SP residues in the middle of alpha helices (relative to those of nonpolar residues) was tested. The combined effects of restricting side-chain rotamer conformations (documented by Creamer and Rose, Proc Acad Sci USA, 1992;89:5937-5941; Proteins, 1994;19:85-97) and excluding side- chain to backbone hydrogen bonds by the helix were quantitatively analyzed. These were found to correlate strongly with four experimentally determined scales of helix-forming propensities. The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.87, which are comparable to those found for nonpolar residues (for which only the loss of side-chain conformational entropy needs to be considered).