Crystal structure of the neurophysin-oxytocin complex.
Rose, J.P., Wu, C.K., Hsiao, C.D., Breslow, E., Wang, B.C.(1996) Nat Struct Biol 3: 163-169
- PubMed: 8564543 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0296-163
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1NPO - PubMed Abstract: 
The first crystal structure of the pituitary hormone oxytocin complexed with its carrier protein neurophysin has been determined and refined to 3.0 A resolution. The hormone-binding site is located at the end of a 3(10)-helix and involves residues from both domains of each monomer. Hormone residues Tyr 2, which is buried deep in the binding pocket, and Cys 1 have been confirmed as the key residues involved in neurophysin-hormone recognition. We have compared the bound oxytocin observed in the neurophysin-oxytocin complex, the X-ray structures of unbound oxytocin analogues and the NMR-derived structure for bound oxytocin. We find that while our structure is in agreement with the previous crystallographic findings, it differs from the NMR result with regard to how Tyr 2 of the hormone is recognized by neurophysin.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602, USA.