The rippled beta sheet is a variation of the pleated beta sheet, a well-known structural motif found in thousands of proteins. Linus Pauling and Robert Corey described the rippled beta sheet in 1953, but it remained a largely theoretical structure for decades. Scientists have now created rippled sheets in the laboratory and characterized the structure using x-ray crystallography. Credit: J.
A peculiar protein structure known as a “rippled beta sheet,” which was initially hypothesized in 1953, has now been generated in the laboratory and thoroughly characterized using x-ray crystallography., may allow for the rational design of unique materials based on the rippled sheet architecture. The rippling sheet is a variant of the pleated beta sheet, a well-known structural motif present in thousands of proteins. Linus Pauling and Robert Corey described the rippled beta sheet two years after introducing the pleated beta sheet concept. While the pleated beta sheet is generally known and commonly referred to simply as the beta sheet, the rippled sheet has remained theoretical for decades.
“The dimers packed together into herringbone layer structures, which raised doubt as to whether the periodic rippled beta-sheet layer configuration was viable,” Raskatov said.