New synthetic strategy for o-NBS protected amino acids and their use in synthesis of mono-benzylated peptides

A synthetic strategy to prepare o-NBS protected Fmoc-amino acids under mild conditions, in a rapid and efficient way, characterised by high yields and excellent purity of the final products has been developed. The o-NBS protected Fmoc-amino acids are employed in solid phase peptide synthesis to prepare peptidomimetics carrying mono-benzylated moieties on peptide side chains.     

A short practical synthesis of 2′-deoxymugineic acid

A short and practical synthesis of 2′-deoxymugineic acid (DMA) has been developed via reductive alkylation with the aldehyde intermediates. No protection of azetidine-2-carboxylic acid was required and the presence of free carboxylic acid function facilitated purification by simple acid and base extractions. Furthermore, the intermediates were conveniently purified by HPLC due to the presence of chromophoric benzyl ester protecting group(s). Hydrogenolysis of the benzyl protecting groups in the final step furnished DMA in overall good yield.     

Conformational variability exhibited by mellitic acid anions (MA?n) with organic amine cations: Structures with an abundance of NH ?s OC hydrogen bonds and a paucity of hydrogen bonds

Benzenehexacarboxylic acid (mellitic acid) is an ideal substrate for the study of radially arranged ionic interactions with organic bases. Earlier work has shown that the net charge in MA (−4, −3, or −2) influences its assembly, respectively, either as ribbons or sheets. In the former case the cations intersperse the ribbons forming a tight network. In the MA sheets from the latter, the cations are arranged in orthogonal stacks. In the MA-phenanthroline complex such stacks are arranged exactly parallel resulting in significant π–π interactions. The present work relates to the modification of the phenanthroline motif to flexible structures. The reported ability of 2,3-bis-(2′-pyridyl) pyrazine (P2), prepared from 2,2′-pyridyl by reaction with ethylenediamine (EDA) followed by dehydrogenation of the resulting 2,3-bis-(2′-pyridyl)-5,6-dihydropyrazine, to form helical structures made it an obvious choice for complexation studies with MA. These resulted not only in the formation of the desired 7 MAP2 complex but also, surprisingly, with the dihydroprecursor complex with EDA 3 (MAEDA), a compound that eluded direct preparation with MA and EDA. The crystal structure of MAEDA reports the first complex of MA where MA⁻⁵ ions are encountered. The 15 hydrogen bonds, three for each N, result in hard packing. The complex with P2 7 (MAP2) showed the common features of MA⁻² sheets. Unlike phenanthroline, the nonplanar disposition of the pyridine rings made it possible for both pyridine protons to be available for salt formation, resulting in the arrangement of the cations in layers interposed between the sheets of MA⁻² ions. The pyrazine ring does not participate in hydrogen bonding or stacking in the crystal.     

毛细管电泳法检测结核杆菌蛋白多肽类抗原活性成分研究

采用毛细管电泳法分离检测结核杆菌耐热抗原样品中的活性成分。熔融石英毛细管55cm(40cm处检测窗口)×50μm i.d.;缓冲液:0.15mol·L-1硼酸盐(含5g·L-1PEG-4000,pH=10.92);分离电压:+12 kV;进样压力:0.5 psi(3.45 kPa),进样时间3.0s;分离温度:25℃;UV-Vis检测器检测波长:200nm。本方法能分离溶菌酶标准蛋白和牛血清白蛋白标准品,根据分子量大小能有效分离结核杆菌耐热抗原样品活性成分,线性回归方程相关系数r2在0.99673以上,定量限在19.47μg·mL-1左右。样品加标回收率在96.09%左右,相对标准偏差小于8.13%,本方法与快速蛋白液相色谱法结果一致。该方法简便、灵敏、快速、可靠、重现性好,能用于结核杆菌耐热抗原样品中活性成分测定。     

Two-level QSAR network (2L-QSAR) for peptide inhibitor design based on amino acid properties and sequence positions

In the design of peptide inhibitors the huge possible variety of the peptide sequences is of high concern. In collaboration with the fast accumulation of the peptide experimental data and database, a statistical method is suggested for peptide inhibitor design. In the two-level peptide prediction network (2L-QSAR) one level is the physicochemical properties of amino acids and the other level is the peptide sequence position. The activity contributions of amino acids are the functions of physicochemical properties and the sequence positions. In the prediction equation two weight coefficient sets {a_k} and {b_l} are assigned to the physicochemical properties and to the sequence positions, respectively. After the two coefficient sets are optimized based on the experimental data of known peptide inhibitors using the iterative double least square (IDLS) procedure, the coefficients are used to evaluate the bioactivities of new designed peptide inhibitors. The two-level prediction network can be applied to the peptide inhibitor design that may aim for different target proteins, or different positions of a protein. A notable advantage of the two-level statistical algorithm is that there is no need for host protein structural information. It may also provide useful insight into the amino acid properties and the roles of sequence positions.     

A method combining SPITC and 18O labeling for simultaneous protein identification and relative quantification

The relative quantification and identification of proteins by matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization time‐of‐flight MS is very important in /MS is very important in protein research and is usually conducted separately. Chemical N‐terminal derivatization with 4‐sulphophenyl isothiocyanate facilitates de novo sequencing analysis and accurate protein identification, while ¹⁸O labeling is simple, specific and widely applicable among the isotopic labeling methods used for relative quantification. In the present study, a method combining 4‐sulphophenyl isothiocyanate derivatization with ¹⁸O isotopic labeling was established to identify and quantify proteins simultaneously in one experiment. Reaction conditions were first optimized using a standard peptide (fibrin peptide) and tryptic peptides from the model protein (bovine serum albumin). Under the optimized conditions, these two independent labeling steps show good compatibility, and the linear relativity of quantification within the ten times dynamic range was stable as revealed by correlation coefficient analysis (R² value = 0.998); moreover, precursor peaks in MS/MS spectrum could provide accurate quantitative information, which is usually acquired from MS spectrum, enabling protein identification and quantification in a single MS/MS spectrum. Next, this method was applied to native peptides isolated from spider venoms. As expected, the de novo sequencing results of each peptide matched with the known sequence precisely, and the measured quantitative ratio of each peptide corresponded well with the theoretical ratio. Finally, complex protein mixtures of spider venoms from male and female species with unknown genome information were analyzed. Differentially expressed proteins were successfully identified, and their quantitative information was also accessed. Taken together, this protein identification and quantification method is simple, reliable and efficient, which has a good potential in the exploration of peptides/proteins from species with unknown genome. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

六胜肽片段的液相合成及组装研究

六胜肽是一种药妆肽,序列为Ac-Glu-Glu-Met-Gln-Arg-Arg-NH2,是相对安全的类肉毒素活性物质.拟用液相方法分别合成片段A[Ac-Glu(Ot Bu)-Glu(Ot Bu)-Met-OH]和片段B[H-Gln(Trt)-Arg-Arg-OH],然后将两个片段在固相载体上进行组装,经切割、纯化得到六胜肽产品,纯度大于98%,片段组装的收率为65%,并对组装反应的条件进行分析和讨论.该方法结合了固相和液相合成的优点,是一种成本低廉、收率较高和周期较短的六胜肽合成方法.     

Artificial Splitting of a Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetase by Inserting Natural Docking Domains

The interaction in multisubunit non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) is mediated by docking domains that ensure the correct subunit-to-subunit interaction. We introduced natural docking domains into the three-module xefoampeptide synthetase (XfpS) to create two to three artificial NRPS XfpS subunits. The enzymatic performance of the split biosynthesis was measured by absolute quantification of the products by HPLC-ESI-MS. The connecting role of the docking domains was probed by deleting integral parts of them. The peptide production data was compared to soluble protein amounts of the NRPS using SDS-PAGE. Reduced peptide synthesis was not a result of reduced soluble NRPS concentration but a consequence of the deletion of vital docking domain parts. Splitting the xefoampeptide biosynthesis polypeptide by introducing docking domains was feasible and resulted in higher amounts of product in one of the two tested split-module cases compared to the full-length wild-type enzyme.     

Theoretical studies of complexes between Hg(II) ions and l‐cysteinate amino acids

In this study, ab initio and density functional theory methods have been used to understand the structures and thermodynamic stabilities of complexes formed between l ‐cysteine and mercury (II) ions in neutral aqueous solution. To better understand the interaction between sulfur and mercury (II) ion, the MP2, B3LYP, M06‐2X, and TPSS methods have been used to optimize [HgSH_x]^2?x, x = 1–4, complexes and compared to benchmark QCISD(T) structures. Furthermore, energies from these same methods are compared to CCSD(T)/CBS(2,3) energies. From these benchmark calculations, the M06‐2X method was selected to optimize l ‐cysteinate‐Hg(II) complexes and the MP2 method for estimating complex energies. l ‐cysteinate‐mercury (II) ion complexes are formed primarily by forming a bond between cysteinate sulfur and the mercury ion. Stable complexes of l ‐cysteinate and mercury can be formed in 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1 ratios. Each complex is stabilized further by interaction between carboxylate oxygen and mercury as well as hydrogen bonding among complex cysteinate ligands. The results indicate that at high cysteinate to Hg(II) ratios high‐coordinate complexes can be present but at lower ratios the 2:1 complex should be dominant. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of hydrophobic modifications in antimicrobial peptides

With increasing resistance development against conventional antibiotics, there is an urgent need to identify novel approaches for infection treatment. Antimicrobial peptides may offer opportunities in this context, hence there has been considerable interest in identification and optimization of such peptides during the last decade in particular, with the long-term aim of developing these to potent and safe therapeutics. In the present overview, focus is placed on hydrophobic modifications of antimicrobial peptides, and how these may provide opportunities to combat also more demanding pathogens, including multi-resistant strains, yet not provoking unacceptable toxic responses. In doing so, physicochemical factors affecting peptide interactions with bacterial and eukaryotic cell membranes are discussed. Throughout, an attempt is made to illustrate how physicochemical studies on model lipid membranes can be correlated to result from bacterial and cell assays, and knowledge from this translated into therapeutic considerations.