International
Tables for
Crystallography
Volume F
Crystallography of biological macromolecules
Edited by M. G. Rossmann and E. Arnold

© International Union of Crystallography 2006
International Tables for Crystallography (2006). Vol. F. ch. 23.2, p. 586   | 1 | 2 |

Section 23.2.5.2. Short hydrogen bonds

A. E. Hodela‡ and F. A. Quiochob

aDepartment of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA, and  bHoward Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

23.2.5.2. Short hydrogen bonds

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The ultra high resolution refined structure of the PBP–phosphate complex is the first to show structurally the formation of an extremely short hydrogen bond (2.432 Å) between the Asp56 carboxylate of PBP and phosphate. Although this short hydrogen bond is within the proposed range of low-barrier hydrogen bonds with estimated energies of 12–24 kcal mol−1 (Hibbert & Emsley, 1990[link]), its contribution to phosphate binding affinity has been assessed to be no better than that of a normal hydrogen bond (Wang et al., 1997[link]). Thus, a unique role for short hydrogen bonds in biological systems, such as in enzyme catalysis (Gerlt & Gassman, 1993[link]; Cleland & Kreevoy, 1994[link]), remains controversial.

References

First citation Cleland, W. W. & Kreevoy, M. M. (1994). Low-barrier hydrogen bonds and enzymic catalysis. Science, 264, 1887–1890.Google Scholar
 First citation Gerlt, J. A. & Gassman, P. G. (1993). Understanding the rates of certain enzyme-catalyzed reactions: proton abstraction from carbon acids, acyl-transfer reaction, and displacement reactions of phosphodiesters. Biochemistry, 32, 1943–1952.Google Scholar
 First citation Hibbert, F. & Emsley, J. (1990). Hydrogen bonding and chemical reactivity. Adv. Phys. Org. Chem. 226, 255–379.Google Scholar
 First citation Wang, Z., Luecke, H., Yao, N. & Quiocho, F. A. (1997). Nature Struct. Biol. 4, 519–522.Google Scholar








































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