Talk:Protomer (structural biology)

Hi. Such topics are graphic in nature, so an illustration or two are highly recommended here and even necessary, for the benefit of depiction and clarification. If not being too busy in this period of time, I'd have added it myself. BentzyCo 10:17, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Heterooligomer definition
According to the article, "[A protomer] is the smallest unit composed of at least two different protein chains that form a larger heterooligomer by association of two or more copies of this unit." Should not a heterooligomer consist of two or more different protomers, rather than two or more copies of the same protomer? For example, "The D1–D2 dopamine receptor heteromer is a receptor heteromer consisting of D1 and D2 protomers." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Themckinlay (talk • contribs) 22:04, 10 July 2016 (UTC)


 * I also think this is confusing. The spike protein of coronaviruses is a homo-trimeric molecule consisting of three identical protomers (10.1126/science.abb2507, fig. 2; 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.058). The article states that the Na/K-ATPase enzyme is an (αβ)2-diprotomer, which would also make it a hetero-oligomer, because it consists of different sub-units α and β. (Besides, the cited source for this actually calls it an α2β2-diprotomer.) This should be the solution to the homo–hetero paradoxon here.


 * There are more examples for polypeptide chains (I think, this is meant with “protein chains”) called protomers in the context of a homo-oligomeric protein complex. Like the subunits that form the homo-hexameric ring of the ClpX protein which together with ClpP forms the bigger ClpXP complex (a form of Endopeptidase Clp) (10.7554/eLife.52158). So I don't think, a protomer has to consists of “at least two different protein chains that form a larger hetero-oligomer”. It may as well be a single polypeptide chain that, if repeated, forms a homo-oligomer. --Markus Prokott (talk) 09:19, 6 October 2020 (UTC)