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Alpha Keratin is
a coiled-coil. It is strong, inextensible, insoluble and chemically
inert. Alpha Keratin is found in hair, wool, horn, and tails. The
consensus amino acid sequence is a repeating heptamer of (-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-)n
where residues a and d are non-polar. The two alpha helicies coil,
rather than form a ladder, because each alpha helix turns 700 degrees
from one a residue to the next. Alpha keratin contains cysteine
crosslinks (disulfides), which are reduced and reoxidized during
a "perm". [The structure contained here is a coiled-coil
from GCN4, not from alpha Keratin. The PDB does not appear to contain
a model or structure of alpha Keratin.]
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(c)
2000-2002 Vijay Pande and Stanford University