In search of new methods in peptide synthesis. A review of the last three decades

The Role of Peptides in the Design of Electrochemical Biosensors for Clinical Diagnostics

Peptides represent a promising class of biorecognition elements that can be coupled to electrochemical transducers. The benefits lie mainly in their stability and selectivity toward a target analyte. Furthermore, they can be synthesized rather easily and modified with specific functional groups, thus making them suitable for the development of novel architectures for biosensing platforms, as well as alternative labelling tools. Peptides have also been proposed as antibiofouling agents. Indeed, biofouling caused by the accumulation of biomolecules on electrode surfaces is one of the major issues and challenges to be addressed in the practical application of electrochemical biosensors. In this review, we summarise trends from the last three years in the design and development of electrochemical biosensors using synthetic peptides. The different roles of peptides in the design of electrochemical biosensors are described. The main procedures of selection and synthesis are discussed. Selected applications in clinical diagnostics are also described.

Peptide-based biosensors

Peptides have been used as components in biological analysis and fabrication of novel biosensors for a number of reasons, including mature synthesis protocols, diverse structures and as highly selective substrates for enzymes. Bio-conjugation strategies can provide an efficient way to convert interaction information between peptides and analytes into a measurable signal, which can be used for fabrication of novel peptide-based biosensors. Many sensitive fluorophores can respond rapidly to environmental changes and stimuli manifest as a change in spectral characteristics, hence environmentally-sensitive fluorophores have been widely used as signal markers to conjugate to peptides to construct peptide-based molecular sensors. Additionally, nanoparticles, fluorescent polymers, graphene and near infrared dyes are also used as peptide-conjugated signal markers. On the other hand, peptides may play a generalist role in peptide-based biosensors. Peptides have been utilized as bio-recognition elements to bind various analytes including proteins, nucleic acid, bacteria, metal ions, enzymes and antibodies in biosensors. The selectivity of peptides as an enzymatic substrate has thus been utilized to construct enzyme sensors or enzyme-activity sensors. In addition, progress on immobilization and microarray techniques of peptides has facilitated the progress and commercial application of chip-based peptide biosensors in clinical diagnosis.

Application of unnatural amino acids to the de novo design of selective antibiotic peptides

Because of their unique mechanism of cytotoxicity against bacteria and other microorganisms, antimicrobial peptides have received a great deal of attention as possible therapeutic agents. Incorporation of unnatural amino acids into the peptide sequences has the potential to improve the organism selectivity and potency of these peptides as well as increase their metabolic stability. This protocol outlines the logic used to selectively incorporate unnatural amino acid into a peptide sequence in an attempt to obtain peptides with increased therapeutic potential as antibiotic agents.

Spectroscopic and thermodynamic evidence for antimicrobial peptide membrane selectivity

In our laboratory we developed a series of antimicrobial peptides that exhibit selectivity and potency for prokaryotic over eukaryotic cells (Hicks et al., 2007). Circular dichroism (CD), isothermal calorimetry (ITC) and calcein leakage assays were conducted to determine the mechanism of lipid binding of a representative peptide 1 (Ac-GF-Tic-Oic-GK-Tic-Oic-GF-Tic-Oic-GK-Tic-KKKK-CONH(2)) to model membranes. POPC liposomes were used as a simple model for eukaryotic membranes and 4:1 POPC:POPG liposomes were used as a simple model for prokaryotic membranes. CD, ITC and calcein leakage data clearly indicate that compound 1 interacts via very different mechanisms with the two different liposome membranes. Compound 1 exhibits weaker binding and induces less calcein leakage in POPC liposomes than POPC:POPG (4:1 mole ratio) liposomes. The predominant binding mechanism to POPC appears to be limited to surface interactions while the mechanism of binding to 4:1 POPC:POPG most likely involves some type of pore formation.

Solid-phase peptide synthesis: a silver anniversary report

It has been a quarter of a century since Merrifield's initial report on solid-phase peptide synthesis. The field has matured significantly in recent years with a better understanding of the underlying chemistry. This is reflected by new, milder orthogonal protection schemes and more efficient coupling methods, some of which have been incorporated into automated systems. Advances in purification, especially high performance liquid chromatography, have had a major impact. The efficacy of these improvements has been demonstrated by an impressive litany of applications to biological problems.

Reaction mechanism, specificity and pH-dependence of peptide synthesis catalyzed by the metalloproteinase thermolysin

The initial rates of peptide bond formation catalyzed by the metalloproteinase thermolysin were determined. The dependence of the formation rates on the concentration of the carboxyl donor and the acceptor can be explained by a rapid-equilibrium random bireactant mechanism, in which the binding of one substrate has a positive influence on the binding of the other (synergism). The specificity of the enzyme for the donor and acceptor in the condensation reaction was further investigated by determining the apparent kinetic parameters kcat and Km for various substrates. The pH-dependence of the initial rates of synthesis was found to be identical to the pH-dependence of the hydrolytic action of the enzyme. The rates are also shown to be independent of the pKa of the amino group of the acceptor, indicating that deprotonation of the attacking nucleophile in the synthetic reaction is not rate-limiting.