Genetic analysis of P22 tail spike protein folding

We have adopted a genetic approach to identifying those residues and local sequences in a polypeptide chain which play an important role on the folding pathway. Our approach has been to isolate and characterize mutants which specifically alter the folding and subunit association pathway of a polypeptide chain, without altering the native protein. Such mutants distinguish residues involved in the kinetic control of conformation from residues involved in the stability and activity of the native protein. This approach is complementary to the efforts to characterize mutations which alter the stability of the mature protein(6,7,8). It is likely that many residues will have roles in both aspects of the functioning of the polypeptide chain. We thought it likely, however, that at least with large proteins, these aspects might be segregated in different local sequences.