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Functional significance of conserved amino acid residues
A R Poteete1, D Rennell, S E Bouvier
1Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Worcester 01655.
Proteins
|May 1, 1992
Abstract:
A systemic study of single amino acid substitutions in bacteriophage T4 lysozyme permitted a test of the concept that conserved amino acid residues are more functionally important than nonconserved residues. Substitutions of amino acid residues that are conserved among five bacteriophage-encoded lysozymes were found to lead more frequently to loss of function than substitutions of nonconserved residues. Of 163 residues tested, only 74 (45%) are sensitive to at least one substitution; however, all 14 residues that are fully conserved are sensitive to substitutions.