The three-dimensional solution structure of human transforminggrowth factor
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">1 (TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">1)has
been determined using multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
and a hy
brid distance geometry/simulated annealing algorithm. It represents one of the firstexamples of a mammalian protein structurethat has
been solved
by isotopic la
beling of the protein in aeukaryotic cell line
and multinuclear NMRspectroscopy. The solution structure of the 25 kDadisulfide-linked TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">1 homodimer was calculatedfrom over 3200 distance
and dihedral angle restraints. The finalensem
ble of 33 accepted structures hadno NOE or dihedral angle violations greater than 0.30 Å
and 5.0
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,respectively. The RMSD of
back
boneatoms for the ensem
ble of 33 structures relative to their meanstructure was 1.1 Å when all residues wereused in the alignment
and 0.7 Å when loop regions were omitted.The solution structure of TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">1follows two independently determined crystal structures of TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">2(Daopin et al., 1992, 1993; Schlunegger& Grütter, 1992, 1993), providing the first opportunity toexamine structural differences
between the twoisoforms at the molecular level. Although the structures are verysimilar, with an RMSD in
back
boneatom positions of 1.4 Å when loop regions are omitted in the alignment
and 1.9 Å when all residues areconsidered, there are several nota
ble differences in structure
andflexi
bility which may
be related to function.The clearest example of these is in the
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-turn from residues69-72: the turn type found in the solutionstructure of TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">1 falls into the category of type II, whereas thatpresent in the X-ray crystal structureof TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">2 is more consistent with a type I turn conformation.This may
be of functional significance asstudies using TGF-
![](/images/gifchars/<font color=)
beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle"> chimeras
and deletion mutants indicate that thisportion of the molecule may
beimportant in receptor
binding.