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Structure Analysis of Unfolded Peptides I: Vibrational Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy

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Intrinsically Disordered Protein Analysis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 895))

Abstract

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy is an invaluable spectroscopic techniques utilized to exploit the optical strength of vibrational transitions for structure analysis. In this chapter, we describe the protocol for measuring and self-consistently analyzing VCD and the corresponding FT-IR spectra of short peptides. This process involves the decomposition of the IR spectrum as well as simulations of the amide I band profiles in both spectra based on structural models of the peptides investigated. This type of spectral analysis should be complemented with similar investigations of Raman spectra, which are described in the subsequent chapter. The structural analysis of short, unfolded peptides described in this chapter can easily be extended for the analysis of longer unfolded peptides or even proteins. This is particularly important in view of the demonstrated biological relevance of intrinsically disordered peptides and proteins (IDPs).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner, Jonathan B. Soffer & Daniel Verbaro

Authors
  1. Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner
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  2. Jonathan B. Soffer
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  3. Daniel Verbaro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Bruce B. Downs Blvd 12901, Tampa, 33612, Florida, USA

    Vladimir N. Uversky

  2. Dept. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Center for Computational Biology &, Indiana University, West 10th Street 410, Indianapolis, 46202, Indiana, USA

    A. Keith Dunker

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Schweitzer-Stenner, R., Soffer, J.B., Verbaro, D. (2012). Structure Analysis of Unfolded Peptides I: Vibrational Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy. In: Uversky, V., Dunker, A. (eds) Intrinsically Disordered Protein Analysis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 895. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-927-3_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-927-3_18

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-926-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-927-3

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