Genetically encoded fragment-based discovery of glycopeptide ligands for carbohydrate-binding proteins

Linker-free incorporation of carbohydrates into in vitro displayed macrocyclic peptides

We report a strategy for efficient post-translational modification of a library of ribosomally-translated peptides by activation and elimination of cysteine to dehydroalanine then conjugate addition of a range of exogenous thiols, with an emphasis on carbohydrates.

We report a strategy for efficient post-translational modification of a library of ribosomally-translated peptides by activation and elimination of cysteine to dehydroalanine then conjugate addition of a range of exogenous thiols, with an emphasis on carbohydrates. These reactions are selective for cysteine, and do not interfere with amplification of the nucleic acid component of an mRNA-displayed peptide. Furthermore, these reactions are shown to be compatible with two different macrocyclisation chemistries, and when applied to a peptide containing an N-terminal cysteine give a ketone that can be functionalised in an orthogonal manner. This new strategy can overcome a limitation of ribosomal translation, providing a means to incorporate untranslatable groups such as carbohydrates in amino acid side chains, and will allow for the ribosomal generation of glycopeptides, requiring only the introduction of a free thiol in the molecule to be incorporated. In combination with in vitro selection techniques, this strategy is envisaged to allow the discovery of biologically-active glycopeptides with a near-natural, but hydrolytically stable, thioglycosidic bond.

Sequence-Based Prediction of Protein-Carbohydrate Binding Sites Using Support Vector Machines

Carbohydrate-binding proteins play significant roles in many diseases including cancer. Here, we established a machine-learning-based method (called sequence-based prediction of residue-level interaction sites of carbohydrates, SPRINT-CBH) to predict carbohydrate-binding sites in proteins using support vector machines (SVMs). We found that integrating evolution-derived sequence profiles with additional information on sequence and predicted solvent accessible surface area leads to a reasonably accurate, robust, and predictive method, with area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.78 and 0.77 and Matthew's correlation coefficient of 0.34 and 0.29, respectively for 10-fold cross validation and independent test without balancing binding and nonbinding residues. The quality of the method is further demonstrated by having statistically significantly more binding residues predicted for carbohydrate-binding proteins than presumptive nonbinding proteins in the human proteome, and by the bias of rare alleles toward predicted carbohydrate-binding sites for nonsynonymous mutations from the 1000 genome project. SPRINT-CBH is available as an online server at http://sparks-lab.org/server/SPRINT-CBH .

Chemically Modifying Viruses for Diverse Applications

Long fascinating to biologists, viruses offer nanometer-scale benchtops for building molecular-scale devices and materials. Viruses tolerate a wide range of chemical modifications including reaction conditions, pH values, and temperatures. Recent examples of nongenetic manipulation of viral surfaces have extended viruses into applications ranging from biomedical imaging, drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and biosensors to materials for catalysis and energy generation. Chemical reactions on the phage surface include both covalent and noncovalent modifications, including some applied in conjunction with genetic modifications. Here, we survey viruses chemically augmented with capabilities limited only by imagination.

Rapid biocompatible macrocyclization of peptides with decafluoro-diphenylsulfone

In this manuscript, we describe modification of Cys-residues in peptides and proteins in aqueous solvents via aromatic nucleophilic substitution (S_NAr) with perfluoroarenes (fAr).

In this manuscript, we describe modification of Cys-residues in peptides and proteins in aqueous solvents via aromatic nucleophilic substitution (S_NAr) with perfluoroarenes (fAr). Biocompatibility of this reaction makes it attractive for derivatization of proteins and peptide libraries comprised of 20 natural amino acids. Measurement of the reaction rates for fAr derivatives by ¹⁹F NMR with a model thiol donor (β-mercaptoethanol) in aqueous buffers identified decafluoro-diphenylsulfone (DFS) as the most reactive S_NAr electrophile. Reaction of DFS with thiol nucleophiles is >100 000 faster than analogous reaction of perfluorobenzene; this increase in reactivity enables application of DFS at low concentrations in aqueous solutions compatible with biomolecules and protein complexes irreversibly degraded by organic solvents (e.g., bacteriophages). DFS forms macrocycles when reacted with peptides of the general structure X_n–Cys–X_m–Cys–X_l, where X is any amino acid and m = 1–15. It formed cyclic peptides with 6 peptide hormones—oxytocin, urotensin II, salmon calcitonin, melanin-concentrating hormone, somatostatin-14, and atrial natriuretic factor (1–28) as well as peptides displayed on M13 phage. Rates up to 180 M^–1 s^–1 make this reaction one of the fastest Cys-modifications to-date. Long-term stability of macrocycles derived from DFS and their stability toward oxidation further supports DFS as a promising method for modification of peptide-based ligands, cyclization of genetically-encoded peptide libraries, and discovery of bioactive macrocyclic peptides.

Silent Encoding of Chemical Post-Translational Modifications in Phage-Displayed Libraries

In vitro selection of chemically modified peptide libraries presented on phage, while a powerful technology, is limited to one chemical post-translational modification (cPTM) per library. We use unique combinations of redundant codons to encode cPTMs with "silent barcodes" to trace multiple modifications within a mixed modified library. As a proof of concept, we produced phage-displayed peptide libraries Ser-[X]4-Gly-Gly-Gly, with Gly and Ser encoded using unique combinations of codons (TCA-[X]4-GGAGGAGGA, AGT-[X]4-GGTGGTGGT, etc., where [X]4 denotes a random NNK library). After separate chemical modification and pooling, mixed-modified libraries can be panned and deep-sequenced to identify the enriched peptide sequence and the accompanying cPTM simultaneously. We panned libraries bearing combinations of modifications (sulfonamide, biotin, mannose) against matched targets (carbonic anhydrase, streptavidin, concanavalin A) to identify desired ligands. Synthesis and validation of sequences identified by deep sequencing revealed that specific cPTMs are significantly enriched in panning against the specific targets. Panning on carbonic anhydrase yielded a potent ligand, sulfonamide-WIVP, with Kd = 6.7 ± 2.1 nM, a 20-fold improvement compared with the control ligand sulfonamide-GGGG. Silent encoding of multiple cPTMs can be readily incorporated into other in vitro display technologies such as bacteriophage T7 or mRNA display.

Distinguishing of tumor cell-targeting peptide ligands through a color-encoding microarray

A silicon-based microarray system was constructed to discover the affinity peptides and to distinguish the specific peptides from a high throughput library. Using a color-encoding strategy, in situ peptide distinguishing between HER1 ligands and HER2 ligands was achieved. Novel affinity peptide sequences H1P (HER1 ligand) and H2P (HER2 ligand) were determined with nmol affinity.

All about that Amide Bond: The Sixth Chemical Protein Synthesis (CPS) Meeting

Endless potential: The sixth Chemical Protein Synthesis Meeting, held recently in St. Augustine, Florida, showed the potential of peptide and protein chemistry when applied toward understanding and controlling complex biological processes. This report highlights the diverse and cutting-edge protein chemistry presented at the meeting.