Collagen

Each strand of the collagen triple-helix reflects a helical structure which is strikingly different from that of the commonly encountered alpha-helix. Each strand is comprised of Pro-Pro-Gly repeats. This animation begins by highlighting a single strand of the triple helix; as you can see, the five-membered rings of proline are oriented away from the interior of the helix. As the animation incorporates the other helices, one can clearly see the crowded steric environment of the interior--this is exactly why Gly is the only amino acid which is incorporated into the interior. Notice that while there are no intrastrand hydrogen bonding interactions, the triple helix is stabilized by interstrand hydrogen bonding. The animation finishes with a space-filling depiction of the helix, further highlighting the tight packing (and numerous van der Waals contacts) which stabilizes the protein.

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