Peptide thioesters production

Both FASs and PKSs are structurally and mechanistically related to another class of multifunctional enzymes called nonribosomal peptide synthetases. These enzymes activate amino acids as aminoacyl thioesters, which subsequently undergo condensation via formation of amide bonds, leading to biosynthesis of peptide natural products. Enzyme-bound phosphopantetheinyl groups also play a central role in the peptide assembly process. For comparison, the genetics and biochemistry of peptide synthetases are also briefly reviewed here. 

In order to facilitate the generation of peptide thioesters, several groupst have developed generalized versions of the thioester linker pioneered by Hojo and Aimoto.f A 3-sulfanylpropanoic acid residue is generated on an acid-labile linker such as Boc-Leu-PAM-resin or Boc-Leu-MBHA-resin. It is important to have a one-residue spacer between the MBHA linker and the thiol for optimal acid stability of the amide bond.f All twenty Boc-protected amino acids can be coupled to this thiol on the solid support to generate the thioester.Despite the potential reactivity of the thioester to the amino terminus, the formation of a dioxopiperazine is not generally observed when using in situ neutralization protocols. However, when the sequence was Leu-Tyr-Arg-Ala-Pro, 20% of a dipeptide deletion product, Leu-Tyr-Arg, was observed. It is likely that sequences such as C-terminal Pro-Gly would also be subject to this side reaction.t ... 

An enzyme has been isolated from the FK520 producer which is believed to be the key one responsible for inserting pipecolic acid into the macrocycle [114]. It is reported to be dimeric and activates pipecohc acid and several structural analogues in an ATP-dependent reaction to give an enzyme-bound amino-acyl adenylate. There is evidence that this then reacts to form a thioester linkage to the enzyme. This mechanism of activation is the same as that found in the non-ribosomal biosynthesis of peptide natural products such as gramicidin [112]. 

An enormous range of medically important polyketide and peptide natural products assembled by modular polyketide synthases (PKSs), non-ribosomal peptide synthases (NRPSs) and mixed PKS/NRPS systems have macrocyclic structures, including the antibiotics erythromycin (PKS) and daptomycin (NRPS), the immunosuppressants cyclosporin (NRPS) and rapamycin (PKS/NRPS), and the antitumor agent epothilone (PKS/NRPS). PKSs and NRPSs are large, multifunctional proteins that are organized into sets of fnnc-tional domains termed modules. The order of modules corresponds directly to the seqnence of monomers in the product. Synthetic intermediates are covalently tethered by thioester linkages to a carrier protein domain in each module. The thiol tether on each carrier domain is phosphopantetheine, which is attached to a conserved serine residne in the carrier protein in a post-translational priming reaction catalyzed by a phosphopantetheinyltransferase. 

A superspiral consisting of two spirals (coiled coil), known as the leucine zip, is formed in this sequence via dimerisation. The condensation reaction, carried out in the aqueous phase, involves two peptide fragments which contain 15 and 17 amino acid residues respectively. Activation takes place via thioester formation (see Sect. 5.3.1). The ligation to a complete GCN4 matrix gives a new 32 amino acid peptide, which can itself serve as a matrix. The autocatalytic reaction exhibits a parabolic increase in the peptide concentration (caused by product inhibition see Section 6.4). 

Earlier in this chapter, it was mentioned that many of the nonprotein amino acids are components of nonribosomal peptides. During such a biosynthesis, the peptide is attached to a carrier protein through a thioester bond, until chain termination occurs and the final product is released. The carrier protein is posttranslationally modified by the attachment of a phosphopantetheinyl group from coenzyme A. This step gives rise to the active carrier protein with a phosphopantetheine arm upon which amino acids are added to during NRPS. As an example, loading of isoleucine onto the carrier protein is depicted below (Scheme 5). Further details about nonribosomal peptide syntheses and enzymatic reactions can be found in Chapter 5.19. 

Once assembly of a mature peptide has been completed by the NRPS, the product remains covalently linked to the PCP domain of the last module as a thioester. Release into solution from the assembly line is accomplished by a variety of enzyme-catalyzed reactions as described below (Figure 8). 

Among the electrophilic handles proposed for head-to-tail and side-chain-to-tail cyclization of peptides on solid support by intrachain aminolysis with concurrent detachment of the product from the resin in the protected form (see Section 6.8.3.1.3), generally the oxime resin (also called Kaiser resin)1364 365 and a thioester resin[363l are recommended (see Scheme 14). In addition to the classical head-to-tail cyclization,[3431 the oxime resin is used for side-chain cyclizations as well as for the synthesis of multicyclic peptides vide infra). Due to its dual functions, the oxime resin can be employed only with Boc/Bzl chemistry it is not compatible with Fmoc/tBu chemistry where the basic N -deprotection leads to free amino groups and thus to premature cyclization reactions. To avoid this premature cleavage of the... 

After preparation of the desired resin-bound peptide via SPPS, the thioester-modified product was cleaved by HF[781 from the MBHA resin179 as the amide. 

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