Peptide scan

Robust peptide-derived approaches aim to identify a small drug-like molecule to mimic the peptide interactions. The primary peptide molecule is considered in these approaches as a tool compound to demonstrate that small molecules can compete with a given interaction. A variety of chemical, 3D structural and molecular modeling approaches are used to validate the essential 3D pharmacophore model which in turn is the basis for the design of the mimics. The chemical approaches include in addition to N- and C-terminal truncations a variety of positional scanning methods. Using alanine scans one can identify the key pharmacophore points D-amino-acid or proline scans allow stabilization of (i-turn structures cyclic scans bias the peptide or portions of the peptide in a particular conformation (a-helix, (i-turn and so on) other scans, like N-methyl-amino-acid scans and amide-bond-replacement (depsi-peptides) scans aim to improve the ADME properties." ... 

Peptide Scanning Library (Epitope Mapping, Peptide Scan)... 

Peptide scanning is a very useful tool for screening a known protein sequence for active regions (e.g., epitopes). It was first described by Geysen and coworkers for peptides bound to polypropylene rods (28). The peptides are generated by shifting a frame of a distinct peptide length of a protein sequence of interest... 

Fig. 3. Peptide scan. (A) Schema of sequences of a peptide scan. This peptide scan consists of peptides with a length of seven amino acids and a frameshift of two amino acids. Dark letters represent the region with activity. (B) Image of a peptide scan after incubation with a protein and detection of the bound protein.

A special application of the peptide scan is the hybritope scan (hybrid-epitope) (44,45). In order to increase the affinity by extention of the peptide sequence in a hybritope scan, several mixtures of amino acids at positions flanking the related sequence of the protein are introduced. Another strategy to optimize a peptide scan is the so-called duotope scan (duo-epitope) (46). For a duotope scan one generates the peptide scan twice and combines the sequence of both arrays linked via a spacer, such as two -alanine molecules. In this way it is possible to avoid possible steric hindrance and to increase activity by extention of the active sequence. The pattern of such a duotope scan resembles that of a combinatorial library with the exception that each field represents a combination of two sequences rather than two amino acids. 

Reineke, U., Sabat, R Kramer, A., et al. (1996) Mapping protein-protein contact sites using cellulose-bound peptide scans. Mol. Divers. 1, 141-148. 

The following studies were important because they represented another example of interpretation of cryo-EM results, using atomic models for the associated species. In addition, they confirmed and extended the results of natural escape mutation and peptide-scanning techniques used to identify the epitope region. 

Uebel S, Meyer TH, Kraas W, Kienle S, Jung G, Wiesmuller KH, Tampe R (1995) Requirements for peptide binding to the human transporter associated with antigen-processing revealed by peptide scans and complex peptide libraries, J Biol Chem 270 18512-18516. 

Standard deviation is based on at least two protonated forms of the peptide. Scanning started at m/z = 320. 

The importance of linked scanning of metastable ions or of ions formed by induced decomposition is discussed in this chapter and in Chapter 34. Briefly, linked scanning provides information on which ions give which others in a normal mass spectrum. With this sort of information, it becomes possible to examine a complex mixture of substances without prior separation of its components. It is possible to look highly specifically for trace components in mixtures under circumstances in which other techniques could not succeed. Finally, it is possible to gain information on the molecular structures of unknown compounds, as in peptide and protein sequencing (see Chapter 40). 

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a method for obtaining sequence and structural information by measurement of the mass-to-charge ratios of ionized molecules before and after dissociation reactions within a mass spectrometer which consists essentially of two mass spectrometers in tandem. In the first step, precursor ions are selected for further fragmentation by energy impact and interaction with a collision gas. The generated product ions can be analyzed by a second scan step. MS/MS measurements of peptides can be performed using electrospray or matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization in combination with triple quadruple, ion trap, quadrupole-TOF (time-of-flight), TOF-TOF or ion cyclotron resonance MS. Tandem... 

Figure 5.27 Selective detection of lactolated peptides from a tryptic digest of / -lacto-globulins by LC-electrospray-MS-MS, showing (a) the total-ion-cnrrent trace in full-scan mode, and (b) the total-ion-current trace in neutral-loss-scanning mode. Figure from Selective detection of lactolated peptides in hydrolysates by liquid chromatography/ electrospray tandem mass spectrometry , by Molle, D., Morgan, F., BouhaUab, S. and Leonil, J., in Analytical Biochemistry, Volume 259, 152-161, Copyright 1998, Elsevier Science (USA), reproduced with permission from the publisher.

Coacervation occurs in tropoelastin solutions and is a precursor event in the assembly of elastin nanofibrils [42]. This phenomenon is thought to be mainly due to the interaction between hydro-phobic domains of tropoelastin. In scanning electron microscopy (SEM) picmres, nanofibril stmc-tures are visible in coacervate solutions of elastin-based peptides [37,43]. Indeed, Wright et al. [44] describe the self-association characteristics of multidomain proteins containing near-identical peptide repeat motifs. They suggest that this form of self-assembly occurs via specific intermolecular association, based on the repetition of identical or near-identical amino acid sequences. This specificity is consistent with the principle that ordered molecular assembhes are usually more stable than disordered ones, and with the idea that native-like interactions may be generally more favorable than nonnative ones in protein aggregates. 

Because of their ease of synthesis and their structural similarity to peptides, many laboratories have used peptoids as the basis for combinatorial drug discovery. Peptoids were among the first non-natural compounds used to establish the basic principles and practical methods of combinatorial discovery [17]. Typically, diverse libraries of relatively short peptoids (< 10 residues) are synthesized by the mix-and-split method and then screened for biological activity. Individual active compounds can then be identified by iterative re-synthesis, sequencing of compounds on individual beads, or indirect deduction by the preparation of positional scanning libraries. 

Other than an effect on backbone solvation, side chains could potentially modulate PPII helix-forming propensities in a number of ways. These include contributions due to side chain conformational entropy and, as discussed previously, side chain-to-backbone hydrogen bonds. Given the extended nature of the PPII conformation, one might expect the side chains to possess significant conformational entropy compared to more compact conformations. The side chain conformational entropy, Y.S ppn (T = 298°K), available to each of the residues simulated in the Ac-Ala-Xaa-Ala-NMe peptides above was estimated using methods outlined in Creamer (2000). In essence, conformational entropy Scan be derived from the distribution of side chain conformations using Boltzmann s equation... 

MS/MS Duty Cycle Typical MS/MS analysis is a serial process, relying on the selection of precursors (peptides) in MS mode, followed by high-energy fragmentation in MS/MS. This process is termed data dependent acquisition (DDA). The duty cycle for the completion of MS and MS/MS cycles (the time necessary for MS/MS spectrum acquisition) is of primary importance. When the separation performance is viewed from the mass spectrometry perspective, the peak capacity can be characterized by the number of MS/MS scans, yielding successful... 

Over the years, MS/MS duty cycle of modern MS instruments has constantly been improving, but for simplicity we assume it is equal to 1 s. Considering this it is possible to identify up to 60 peptides per minute and up to 3600 peptides in a LC-MS/MS analysis of 1 h. It is important to mention that only a small percentage of MS/MS scans typically yield a spectrum of sufficient quality that can be matched against a protein database and can result in peptide identification. 

The maximum LC-MS peak capacity calculated fora DDA duty cycle of 1 s is shown in Table 12.3. The number of MS/MS scans exceeds 100,000 for lOh long 1D/2DLC experiment, but the number of identified peptides is typically lower. When considering the 25% success rate of a database search and the limited 2DLC orthogonality, the number of identified peptides is not more than 4500 in a 10 h experiment. 

It has been argued that in a typical 2DLC proteomic experiment, with only a limited number of fractions submitted for analysis in the second LC dimension, chromatographic peak capacity is less than 1000. This value is considerably lower than the expected sample complexity. Additional resolution is offered by MS, which represents another separation dimension. With the peak capacity defined as the number of MS/MS scans (peptide identifications) accomplished within the LC analysis time, the MS-derived peak capacity was estimated to be in an order of tens of thousands. While the MS peak capacity is virtually independent of LC separation performance, the complexity of the sample entering the MS instrument still defines the quality of MS/MS data acquisition. The primary goal of 2DLC separation is to reduce the complexity of the sample (and concentrate it, if possible) to a level acceptable for MS/MS analysis. What is the acceptable level of complexity to maintain the reliability and the repeatability of DDA experiments remains to be seen. 

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