Site-specific biotinylation

Fmoc Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis

Synthetic peptides are important as drugs and in research. Currently, the method of choice for producing these compounds is solid-phase peptide synthesis. In this nonspecialist review, we describe the scope and limitations of Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis. Furthermore, we provide a detailed protocol for Fmoc peptide synthesis.

The development of potent peptide agonists and antagonists for the endothelin receptors

The endothelins (ETs), sarafotoxins (SRTXs), vasoactive intestinal contractor (VIC), and bibrotoxin are a family of potent vasoconstrictor peptides. All peptides in this family possess 21 amino acids arranged in a unique bicyclic motif formed between cystine bridges in the 1-15 and 3-11 positions. Since the discovery of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in 1988, significant effort has been focused on the understanding of its structure-activity relationships. The identification of endothelin receptor subtypes has led to the discovery/design of potent peptide agonists and antagonists, along with nonpeptide antagonists of endothelin with varying levels of potency and receptor subtype selectivity. In keeping with the theme of this journal, this review will focus only on the development of peptidic-based agonists and antagonists of endothelin in addition to their applications in understanding the physiological and/or pathophysiological role of endothelin and its isopeptides.

Synthesis and characterization of site-specific biotinylated probes for the motilin receptor

The solid-phase synthesis of two porcine motilin derivatives, specifically biotinylated on the side chain of Lys20, was accomplished by preactivation of the protected amino acids N alpha-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)-N epsilon-biotinyl-L-lysine and N alpha-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)-N epsilon-[N-(biotinyl)-6-aminohexanoyl]-L-lysine with BOP/HOBt/DIEA (1:1:2.5) followed by coupling to the support-bound peptide substrate. The biotin moiety was stable to TFA cleavage and repetitive cycles of acylation, as evidenced by the high level of purity (> 80%) of the crude peptides. This direct synthetic approach complements existing orthogonal protection strategies for the site-specific biotinylation of peptides. The derivatized peptides were purified by RP-HPLC and characterized by mass spectral and amino acid analysis. In binding studies using a rabbit antral smooth muscle homogenate, both [Leu13, Lys20 (N epsilon-biotinyl)]porcine motilin (3) and [Leu13, Lys20 (N epsilon-[N-(biotinyl)-6-aminohexanoyl])]porcine motilin (4) possessed nearly equal affinities for the motilin receptor (IC50 = 0.89 and 1.2 nM, respectively) as native porcine motilin (1) (IC50 = 0.76 nM). The biotinylated peptides were also highly potent in tissue bath assays employing rabbit duodenal smooth muscle segments. In contrast, commercially available [N alpha-biotinylPhe1]porcine motilin (5) had markedly lower affinity in the binding assay (IC50 = 30 nM). The relative bioactivities of these receptor probes are in accord with previous synthetic studies on motilin which demonstrated the importance of the amino-terminal segment in the high affinity interaction between the peptide and its receptor. Analog 3 retained high affinity for the motilin receptor in the presence of avidin. Therefore, this peptide is expected to be a valuable tool for the isolation and identification of motilin receptors.