Design of a 20-amino acid, three-stranded beta-sheet protein.

A 20-residue protein (named Betanova) forming a monomeric, three-stranded, antiparallel beta sheet was designed using a structural backbone template and an iterative hierarchical approach. Structural and physicochemical characterization show that the beta-sheet conformation is stabilized by specific tertiary interactions and that the protein exhibits a cooperative two-state folding-unfolding transition, which is a hallmark of natural proteins. The Betanova molecule constitutes a tractable model system to aid in the understanding of beta-sheet formation, including beta-sheet aggregation and amyloid fibril formation.