Peptide automated

Memfield successfully automated all the steps m solid phase peptide synthesis and computer controlled equipment is now commercially available to perform this synthesis Using an early version of his peptide synthesizer m collaboration with coworker Bemd Gutte Memfield reported the synthesis of the enzyme ribonuclease m 1969 It took them only SIX weeks to perform the 369 reactions and 11 391 steps necessary to assemble the sequence of 124 ammo acids of ribonuclease... 

Modem methods of peptide sequencing follow a strategy similar to that used to sequence insulin but are automated and can be carried out on a small scale A key feature is repetitive N terminal identification using the Edman degradation... 

Automated ammo acid analysis of peptides containing asparagine (Asn) and glutamine (Gin) residues gives a peak corresponding to ammonia Why" ... 

These methodologies have been reviewed (22). In both methods, synthesis involves assembly of protected peptide chains, deprotection, purification, and characterization. However, the soHd-phase method, pioneered by Merrifield, dominates the field of peptide chemistry (23). In SPPS, the C-terminal amino acid of the desired peptide is attached to a polymeric soHd support. The addition of amino acids (qv) requires a number of relatively simple steps that are easily automated. Therefore, SPPS contains a number of advantages compared to the solution approach, including fewer solubiUty problems, use of less specialized chemistry, potential for automation, and requirement of relatively less skilled operators (22). Additionally, intermediates are not isolated and purified, and therefore the steps can be carried out more rapidly. Moreover, the SPPS method has been shown to proceed without racemization, whereas in fragment synthesis there is always a potential for racemization. Solution synthesis provides peptides of relatively higher purity however, the addition of hplc methodologies allows for pure peptide products from SPPS as well. 

One widely used method of formation of protected compounds involves polymer-supported reagents, with the advantage of simple workup by filtration and automated syntheses, especially of polypeptides. Polymer-supported reagents are used to protect a terminal — COOH group as a polymer-bound ester (RCOOR —( ) during peptide syntheses, to protect primary alcohols as... 

ENZYMATIC ANALYSIS WITH CARBOXYPEPTIDASES. Carboxypeptidases are enzymes that cleave amino acid residues from the C-termini of polypeptides in a successive fashion. Four carboxypeptidases are in general use A, B, C, and Y. Carboxypeptidase A (from bovine pancreas) works well in hydrolyzing the C-terminal peptide bond of all residues except proline, arginine, and lysine. The analogous enzyme from hog pancreas, carboxypeptidase B, is effective only when Arg or Lys are the C-terminal residues. Thus, a mixture of carboxypeptidases A and B liberates any C-terminal amino acid except proline. Carboxypeptidase C from citrus leaves and carboxypeptidase Y from yeast act on any C-terminal residue. Because the nature of the amino acid residue at the end often determines the rate at which it is cleaved and because these enzymes remove residues successively, care must be taken in interpreting results. Carboxypeptidase Y cleavage has been adapted to an automated protocol analogous to that used in Edman sequenators. 

In 1990, Bushey and Jorgenson developed the first automated system that eoupled HPLC with CZE (19). This orthogonal separation teehnique used differenees in hydrophobieity in the first dimension and moleeular eharge in the seeond dimension for the analysis of peptide mixtures. The LC separation employed a gradient at 20 p.L/min volumetrie flow rate, with a eolumn of 1.0 mm ID. The effluent from the ehromatographie eolumn filled a 10 p.L loop on a eomputer-eontrolled, six-port miero valve. At fixed intervals, the loop material was flushed over the anode end of the CZE eapillary, allowing eleetrokinetie injeetions to be made into the seeond dimension from the first. 

K. Matsuoka, M. Taoka, T. Isobe, T. Okuyama and Y. Kato, Automated high-resolution two-dimensional liquid cliromatographic system for the rapid and sensitive separation of complex peptide mixtures , 7. Chromatogr. 515 313-320 (1990). 

To determine the structure of a protein or peptide, we need to answer three questions What amino acids are present How much of each is present in what sequence do the amino acids occur in the peptide chain The answers to the first two questions are provided by an automated instrument called an amino acid analyzer. 

Petir Victor Edman (1916-1977) was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and received an M.D. in 1946 at the Karolinska Institute. After a year in the United States at the Rockefeller Institute, he returned to Sweden as professor at the University of Lund. In 1957, he moved to St. Vincent s School of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, where he developed and automated the method of peptide sequencing that bears his name. A reclusive man, he never received the prizes or recognition merited by the importance or his work. 

The general idea of peptide sequencing by Edman degradation is to cleave one amino acid at a time from an end of the peptide chain. That terminal amino acid is then separated and identified, and the cleavage reactions are repeated on the chain-shortened peptide until the entire peptide sequence is known. Automated protein sequencers are available that allow as many as 50 repetitive sequencing cycles to be carried out before a buildup of unwanted by products interferes with the results. So efficient are these instruments that sequence information can be obtained from as little as 1 to 5 picomoles of sample—less than 0.1 /xg. 

Robert Bruce Merrifield (1921-2006) was born in Fori Worth, Texas, anti received his Ph.D. at the University oi California, Los Angeles, in 1949. He then joined the faculty at the Rockefeller Institute, where he remained until his death. In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his development of methods for the automated synthesis of peptides. 

Automated Peptide Synthesis The Merrifield Solid-Phase Method 1037... 

Fig. 10 Liberty (CEM Corporation), the first automated microwave solid-phase peptide synthesizer, is shown on the left-, the available reaction vessel setup for solid-phase synthesis is depicted on the right...

The soluble tryptic peptides of 130 mg a chain of Hb-St. Claude were separated on 0.9 x 60 cm columns of Chromobead resin type P (Technlcon Instruments, Dowex 50-X4) at 37°C using the procedure described earlier (16). The method uses a gradient of volatile pyrldlne-acetlc acid buffers of differing molarities and pH as follows first gradient, 666 ml 0.1 M, pH 3.1, and 333 ml 1.0 M, pH 5.0 and second gradient, 166 wl 1.0 M, pH 5.0, and 332 ml 2.0 M, pH 5.0. The amino acid composition of Isolated fragments was determined with a Splnco model 121 automated amino acid analyzer (Beckman Instruments)... 

In another report, aspects for automating preparative chemistry are described [130]. A comprehensive description of the Ugi reaction is given in [132] and the vision of a micro multi-component reaction as automated parallel micro-channel synthesis is sketched. An interesting point is to convert aldehydes, chiral primary amines, carboxylic adds and isocyanates into corresponding a-amino acids and peptides (U-4CR). 

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