Cysteine-reactive covalent capture tags for enrichment of cysteine-containing peptides.

Considering the tremendous complexity and the wide dynamic range of protein samples from biological origin and their proteolytic peptide mixtures, proteomics largely requires simplification strategies. One common approach to reduce sample complexity is to target a particular amino acid in proteins or peptides, such as cysteine (Cys), with chemical tags in order to reduce the analysis to a subset of the whole proteome. The present work describes the synthesis and the use of two new cysteinyl tags, so-called cysteine-reactive covalent capture tags (C3T), for the isolation of Cys-containing peptides.

Cleavage site analysis of a serralysin-like protease, PrtA, from an insect pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens and development of a highly sensitive and specific substrate.

The aim of this study was the development of a sensitive and specific substrate for protease A (PrtA), a serralysin-like metzincin from the entomopathogenic microorganism, Photorhabdus. First, cleavage of three biological peptides, the A and B chains of insulin and beta-lipotropin, and of 15 synthetic peptides, was investigated. In the biological peptides, a preference for the hydrophobic residues Ala, Leu and Val was observed at three substrate positions, P2, P1' and P2'.

The synthesis of alternative diketopiperazines as potential RGD mimetics.

Alternative RGD mimetics-with the exception of glycine-c(Arg-Asp) 1, c(Arg-Glu) 2 and c[Arg-Asp(Phe-OH)] 3 were synthesized. The DKPs were prepared on solid phase with orthogonal protection allowing further derivatization in solution. During solution phase cyclization in NH(3)/methanol, the side chain benzyl ester group of H-Arg(Tos)-Asp(OBzl)-OMe and H-Arg(Tos)-Glu(OBzl)-OMe suffer transesterification, while beta-t-butyl or beta-cyclohexyl esters are stable under the same conditions.

Copper(II) interaction with unstructured prion domain outside the octarepeat region: speciation, stability, and binding details of copper(II) complexes with PrP106-126 peptides.

Copper(II) complexes of the neurotoxic peptide fragments of human and chicken prion proteins were studied by potentiometric, UV-vis, CD, and EPR spectroscopic and ESI-MS methods. The peptides included the terminally blocked native and scrambled sequences of HuPrP106-126 (HuPrPAc106-126NH2 and ScrHuPrPAc106-126NH2) and also the nona- and tetrapeptide fragments of both the human and chicken prion proteins (HuPrPAc106-114NH2, ChPrPAc119-127NH2, HuPrPAc109-112NH2, and ChPrPAc122-125NH2). The histidyl imidazole-N donor atoms were found to be the major copper(II) binding sites of all peptides; 3N and 4N complexes containing additional 2 and 3 deprotonated amide-N donors, respectively, are the major species in the physiological pH range.

Solution state conformation and degradation of cyclopeptides containing an NGR motif.

In contrast to the RGD-peptides, head to tail cyclization of LNGRV and LNGRv caused only a marginal change in their integrin receptor affinity as shown by the limited effect and selectivity on the adhesion of endothelial cells to ECM components. Structure determination of the two cyclopeptides by NMR and MD, semiempirical and ab initio methods revealed that both are very flexible and take on multiple stable conformers in solution. This structural diversity, along with the presence of the Asn-Gly peptide bond, enhances succinimide ring formation leading to the hydrolysis of Asn.

Cell-physiological effects of elastin derived (VGVAPG)n oligomers in a unicellular model system.

Elastin is one of the most significant components of the extracellular matrix, which supports the stretchiness of the blood vessels via its helical structure and cross-links. Enzymatic decomposition of this protein could induce chemotactic responses of cell populations in the surrounding tissues by several peptide sequences, e.g.

Synthesis of the C-terminal domain of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1).

According to recent investigations, the C-terminal domain of the tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) is responsible for some biological effects that are independent of the enzyme-inhibiting effect of the N-terminal domain of the molecule. The C-terminal domain has been prepared for structure-biological activity investigations. After the chemical synthesis and the folding of the linear peptide.