Reinforced Polyproline II Conformation in a Hydroxyproline-Rich Cell Wall Glycoprotein from Carrot Root

Abstract

The salt-extractable hydroxyproline-rich cell wall glycoprotein from carrot (Daucus carota L.) roots is composed of 35% (w/w) protein, 3% (w/w) galactose, and 62% (w/w) arabinose. The arabinose is attached to hydroxyproline as tetra- and trisaccharides. The circular dichroism of the glycoprotein shows that it is completely in the polyproline II conformation. After deglycosylation of the glycoprotein, the polyproline II conformation of the peptide backbone was lost. This indicates that the carbohydrate reinforces the polyproline II conformation.