Two Other Zinc Structures

On this page, two other interesting proteins containing zinc are presented. The first (1pyi) has two zinc atoms in simple tetrahedral geometry, but is interesting because the two zinc molecules are joined together by two sulfur atoms from cysteine groups. The second molecule is interesting because it was the only zinc found in this study that had a square pyramidal geometry.

This protein is PPR1 from yeast. It is one of about twelve fungal transcription
factors that have a 2 Zinc-6 Cysteine domain. This pathway regulator is important
because it activates the transcription of genes that encode for enzymes used in
the regulation of pyrimidine levels.¹

¹ Marmorstein Gene Dev 1994, 8, 2504.

This enzyme is aminopeptidase from the bacterium Streptomyces griseus. It
is one of the many enzymes found in the extracellular fluid of a culture of S. griseus.
Aminopeptidase is a protease that hydrolyzes peptide bonds. It has good
thermostability and is activated by calcium.² Although somewhat distorted, the
geometry is definitely square pyramidal. The atom in the axial position is an
oxygen from an aspartic acid. It is 208 pm from the zinc. The average of the
four equatorial atoms is 212 pm.

²Greenblatt, H., Almog, O., Maras, B., Spungin-Bialik, A., Barra, D., Blumberg, S., Shoham, G. J. Mol. Biol. 1997, 265, 620.

Tetrahedral Zinc
Trigonal Pyramidal Zinc
Trigonal Bipyramidal Zinc

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