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Letter

Nature Chemical Biology 2, 139–143 (1 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/nchembio766

Dissecting the energetics of protein |[alpha]|-helix C-cap termination through chemical protein synthesis

Duhee Bang , Alexey V Gribenko , Valentina Tereshko , Anthony A Kossiakoff , Stephen B Kent & George I Makhatadze

The α-helix is a fundamental protein structural motif and is frequently terminated by a glycine residue. Explanations for the predominance of glycine at the C-cap terminal portions of α-helices have invoked uniquely favorable energetics of this residue in a left-handed conformation or enhanced solvation of the peptide backbone because of the absence of a side chain.