New method of peptide cleavage based on Edman degradation

Mol Divers. 2013 Aug;17(3):605-11. doi: 10.1007/s11030-013-9453-y. Epub 2013 May 21.

Abstract

A straightforward cleavage method for N- acylated peptides based on the phenylthiohydantoin (PTH) formation is presented. The procedure could be applied to acid-stable resins, such as TentaGel HL-NH[Formula: see text]. We designed a cleavable linker that consists of a lysine residue with the [Formula: see text]-amino group blocked by Boc, whereas the [Formula: see text]-amino group is used for peptide synthesis. After the peptide assembly is completed, the protecting groups in peptide side chains are removed using trifluoroacetic acid, thus liberating also the [Formula: see text]-amino group of the lysine in the linker. Then the reaction with phenyl isothiocyanate followed by acidolysis causes an efficient peptide release from the resin as a stable PTH derivative. Furthermore, the application of a fixed charge tag in the form of 2-(4-aza-1-azoniabicyclo[2.2.2]octylammonium)acetyl group increases ionization efficiency and reduces the detection limit, allowing ESI-MS/MS sequencing of peptides in the subfemtomolar range. The proposed strategy is compatible with standard conditions during one-bead-one-compound peptide library synthesis. The applicability of the developed strategy in combinatorial chemistry was confirmed using a small training library of [Formula: see text]-chymotrypsin substrates.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques
  • Peptide Library
  • Peptides / chemistry*
  • Phenylthiohydantoin / chemistry*
  • Sequence Analysis, Protein / methods*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Peptide Library
  • Peptides
  • Phenylthiohydantoin