Results (
Thai) 1:
[Copy]Copied!
3.1.6 Steric Bulk Aside from the chemical reactivities already discussed, the stereochemistry of the amino acid side chains plays an important role in protein folding and intermolecular interactions. The size and shape of the side chain determines the type of packing interactions that can occur with neighboring groups, according to their van der Waals radii. It is the packing of amino acid side chains within the active site of an enzyme molecule that gives overall size and shape to the binding cavity (pocket), which accommodates the substrate molecule; hence these packing interactions help determine the specificity for binding of substrate and inhibitor molecules at these sites. This is a critical aspect of enzyme catalysis; in Chapter 6 we shall discuss further the relationship between the size and shape of the enzyme binding pocket and the structure of ligands.
Being translated, please wait..
