Figure 1

Physical properties of the ELKs. (a) Helical wheel diagrams of neu (EKLKELLEKLLEKLKELL), hyd (EKLLELLKKLLELLKELL), pos (EKLKALLEKLKAKLKELL), and neg (EELKEKLEELKEKLEEKL). Amino acids are shown as follows: Glu (E), red; Lys (K), blue; Leu (L), yellow; Ala (A), gray. Arrows are proportional to hydrophobic moments. (b) CD Spectroscopic analysis of the peptides. Percent helicity determined by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Measurements were carried out separately in an aqueous buffer (1% acetonitrile) plus minus TFE (10% trifluoroethanol). The mean residue ellipticity at 222 nm was used to calculate α-helicity. Statistical analysis was done using multiple t test. A global analysis for all peptides was performed in two buffer systems by using two-tailed unpaired t test. P values < 0.05 = *. Additionally, a comparison of all peptides against neu in 10% TFE was also performed using paired t test. p values are presented as p < 0.05 = **.