Peptides, cysteine-containing

During the synthesis of peptides that contain 4-methoxybenzyl-protected cysteine residues, sulfoxide formation may occur. These sulfoxides, when treated with HF/ anisole, form thiophenyl ethers that cannot be deprotected therefore, the peptides should be subjected to a reduction step prior to deprotection. ... 

All the complexes consist of several subunits (Table 2) complex I has a flavin mononucleotide (FMN) prosthetic group and complex II a flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) prosthetic group. Complexes I, II, and III contain iron-sulphur (FeS) centers. These centers contain either two, three, or four Fe atoms linked to the sulphydryl groups of peptide cysteine residues and they also contain acid-labile sulphur atoms. Each center can accept or donate reversibly a single electron. 

Hansen, P., Andersson, L., and Lindeberg, G., Purification of cysteine-containing synthetic peptides via the selective binding of the a-amino group to immobilised Cu2+ and Ni2+ ions, /. Chromatogr. A, 723, 51, 1996. 

The complexity of the problem is shown by the same author using an example of a completely different type. Without the help of an enzyme, Chu and Orgel (1999) were able to form a peptide bond between two cysteine residues, which were bonded to a cysteine-containing peptide framework. In this case, the activation was carried out using a classical condensation agent (carbodiimidazole), which can certainly not be considered prebiotic, but the yields of dicysteine (25-60%) were amazing The framework peptide had the structure... 

Figure 16.3 The ICAT reagent reacts with cysteine-containing peptides to form a thioether bond.

Native chemical ligation also can be extended to the conjugation of peptides or proteins to other molecules or surfaces. For instance, Reulen et al. (2007) prepared liposomes that contained cysteine-PEG-phospholipid derivatives and then coupled thioester-modified peptides or proteins to form a protein-liposome conjugate. Using this procedure, approximately 100 molecules of a collagen binding protein could be coupled to the cysteine-containing liposomes. 

Muir et al. (1998) realized that the intein reaction could be used to facilitate a native chemical ligation with a synthetic N-terminal cysteine-containing peptide or cysteine-containing molecule. With the discovery of a mutant intein that could form an intermediate thioester but not go on to complete the splice and ligation reaction (Xu and Perler, 1996 Chong et al.,... 

Figure 19.19 shows a plot of the results of such an assay done to determine the maleimide content of activated BSA. This particular assay used 2-mercaptoethanol which is relatively unaffected by metal-catalyzed oxidation. For the use of cysteine or cysteine-containing peptides in the assay, however, the addition of EDTA is required to prevent disulfide formation. Without the presence of EDTA at 0.1 M, the metal contamination of some proteins (especially serum proteins such as BSA) is so great that disulfide formation proceeds preferential to maleimide coupling. Figure 19.20 shows a similar assay for maleimide-activated BSA using the more innocuous cysteine as the sulfhydryl-containing compound. 

FIGURE 6.20 Synthesis of cystine-containing peptides from cysteine-containing peptides by removal of other protectors followed by (A) deprotection of the sulfhydryls and their oxidation to the disulfide, and (B) formation of the disulfide bond by reaction of a liberated sulfhydryl with a sulfhydryl that is protected and activated by 3-nitro-2-pyridylsulfanyl (Npys).89... 

AM Felix, MH Jimenez, T Mowles, J Meienhofer. Catalytic hydrogenolysis in liquid ammonia. Cleavage of V -benzyloxycarbonyl groups from cysteine-containing peptides with terf-butyl side chain protection. Int J Pept Prot Res 11, 329, 1978. 

K Kuromizu, J Meienhofer. Removal of the JW-benzyloxycarbonyl group from cysteine-containing peptides by catalytic hydrogenolysis in liquid ammonia, exemplified by a synthesis of oxytocin. J Am Chem Soc 96, 4978, 1974. 

M Baca, TW Muir, M Schnolzer, SBH Kent. Chemical ligation of cysteine-containing peptides synthesis of a 22 kDa tethered dimer of HIV-1 protease. J Am Chem Soc 117, 1881, 1995. 

FIGURE 8.8 A peptide sequence containing an oxazolidine ring that gives rise to a serine residue on acidolysis and a thiazolidine ring that gives rise to a cysteine residue on acidolysis. Substituents at C-2 can be H2, H,Me, or Me2. A structure with a methyl group at C produces a threonine residue on acidolysis. 

Example Peptides often contain sulfur from cysteine. Provided there are at least two cysteines in the peptide molecule, the sulfur can be incorporated as thiol group (SH, reduced) or sulfur bridge (S-S, oxidized). Often, both forms are contained in the same sample. At ultrahigh-resolution, the contributions of these compositions to the same nominal m/z can be distinguished. The ultrahigh-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) FT-ICR mass spectrum of native and reduced [D-Pen jenkephalin gives an example of such a separation (Fig. 3.25). [39] The left expanded view shows fully resolved peaks due to and C2 isotopomers of the native and the all- C peak of the reduced compound at m/z 648. The right expansion reveals the peak of the native plus the... 

The two examples from our work we are going to describe below are the design and study of liposomal diepitope constructs combining either (i) B and T-helper (Th) peptide epitopes, which induced particularly powerful humoral responses (21) (Fig. 3) or (ii) CTL and Th epitopes, which provided a powerful antitumor vaccine (74) (Fig. 4). For the production of these constructs we have conjugated peptides that contain a cysteine residue either at the N- or C-terminus, to the surface of preformed liposomes by reaction with thiol reactive functionalized phospholipids and/or PamaCys lipopeptide anchors (Fig. 2). To that end, we have developed strategies that give, in aqueous media, high... 

Scheme 7 Solid-Phase Synthesis of Tri(palmitoyl)-S-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)cysteine-Containing Peptides by On-Resin S-Alkylationt"l...

A straightforward approach is to hunt for short polypeptides that meet the specificity requirement of an enzyme but which, because of peculiarities of the sequence, are acted upon very slowly. Such a peptide may contain unusual or chemically modified amino acids. For example, the peptide Thr-Pro-nVal-NMeLeu-Tyr-Thr (nVal=norvaline NMeLeu = N-methylleucine) is a very slow elastase substrate whose binding can be studied by X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy.6 Thiol proteases are inhibited by succinyl-Gln-Val-Val-Ala-Ala-p-nitroanilide, which includes a sequence common to a number of naturally occurring peptide inhibitors called cystatins.f They are found in various animal tissues where they inhibit cysteine proteases. 

The poisonous components of the most deadly mushroom Amanita phalloides (the Death Cap) are bicyclic heptapeptides which have an additional covalent bond that connects the ( -sulfur atom of an l-cysteine residue with the carbon atom in position 2 of the indole ring of the L-tryptophan. Phalloidin (or phalloidine) is the most abundant member of a whole family of related cyclic heptapeptides called phallotoxins (for a review, see Wieland1 1). These poisonous peptides, therefore, contain a cross-linking moiety consisting of L-tryptophan coupled to L-cysteine, designated tryptathionine (1), alternatively called 5-(trypto-phan-2-yl)cysteine or 2-(L-3-alanylsulfenyl)-L-tryptophan (Scheme 1). 

CS Fullmer. Identification of cysteine-containing peptides in protein digests by high-performance liquid chromatography. Anal Biochem 142 336-339, 1984. 

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