Dynamic covalent chemistry enables formation of antimicrobial peptide quaternary assemblies in a completely abiotic manner

5 years ago

Dynamic covalent chemistry enables formation of antimicrobial peptide quaternary assemblies in a completely abiotic manner

Justine L. Dees, Eric V. Anslyn, Rusheel Guduru, Dmitri V. Ukraintsev, Marvin Whiteley, James F. Reuther, Erik T. Hernandez, Igor V. Kolesnichenko

Naturally occurring peptides and proteins often use dynamic disulfide bonds to impart defined tertiary/quaternary structures for the formation of binding pockets with uniform size and function. Although peptide synthesis and modification are well established, controlling quaternary structure formation remains a significant challenge. Here, we report the facile incorporation of aryl aldehyde and acyl hydrazide functionalities into peptide oligomers via solid-phase copper-catalysed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SP-CuAAC) click reactions. When mixed, these complementary functional groups rapidly react in aqueous media at neutral pH to form peptide–peptide intermolecular macrocycles with highly tunable ring sizes. Moreover, sequence-specific figure-of-eight, dumbbell-shaped, zipper-like and multi-loop quaternary structures were formed selectively. Controlling the proportions of reacting peptides with mismatched numbers of complementary reactive groups results in the formation of higher-molecular-weight sequence-defined ladder polymers. This also amplified antimicrobial effectiveness in select cases. This strategy represents a general approach to the creation of complex abiotic peptide quaternary structures.

Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.2847

DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2847