Synthetic peptides bradykinin

Merrifield used this procedure to prepare a number of peptides. For example, he synthesized the nonapeptide bradykinin in 68% yield in only eight days, a remarkable feat at the time.The biological activity of the synthetic peptide was identical with that of the natural peptide. Merrifield was ultimately able to automate all the steps in his technique for solid-phase peptide synthesis and demonstrated its power by using a homemade machine to prepare bovine pancreatic ribonuclease, an enzyme that contains 124 amino acids. This synthesis proceeded in 17% overall yield and required 369 chemical reactions and 11,931 individual operations The synthetic ribonuclease had a specific activity that was 13-24% that of the native enzyme. The lower activity of the synthetic enzyme can probably be attributed to the fact that each coupling step did not proceed with 100% efficiency, so some polypeptides lacking one or more individual amino acids in the sequence were also produced. Because of their close similarity to ribonuclease, it was not possible to separate these polypeptides from the synthetic enzyme. 

DKPs are simple and easy to obtain and are quite common by-products of synthetic, spontaneous, and biological formation pathways. DKP formation has been well documented as side reactions of solid-phase and solution-phase peptide synthesis. In addition, DKPs have been shown to be decomposition products of various peptides, proteins, and other commercial pharmaceuticals. Cyclic dipeptides were found to be present in solutions of human growth hormone, bradykinin, histerlin, and solutions of agents within the classes of penicillins and cephalosporins. " DKPs are also enzymatically synthesized in several protists and in members of the plant kingdom. Hydrolysates of proteins and polypeptides often contain these compounds and they are commonly isolated from yeasts, lichens, and fungi. ... 

Advantages of the solid-phase method are amenability to automation, the almost 100% yield of product for each reaction, the ease of removal of excess reagents and waste products by washing and filtration of resin particles, the lack of need for purification of intermediates, and speed. Peptides or proteins that have been synthesized by the solid-phase method include ribonuclease, bradykinin, oxytocin, vasopressin, somatostatin, insulin, and the S-chain of hemoglobin. The sequence analyses for these substances were confirmed by demonstrating that the synthetic products, constructed on the basis of sequence data, had the same biological activities as those of the corresponding natural substances. 

All operations in solid-phase peptide synthesis have been automated. The reactions occur in a single reaction vessel, with reagents and wash solvents automatically added from reservoirs by mechanical pumps. Merrifield synthesized the nonapeptide bradykinin (page 503) in just 27 hours using this technique. And, in 1969, he used the automated synthesizer to prepare the enzyme ribonuclease (124 amino acid residues), the first enzyme to be prepared synthetically from its amino acid components. The synthesis, which required 369 chemical reactions and 11,391 steps, was completed in only six weeks. Automated computerized peptide synthesis, though still not without occasional problems, is now a fairly routine matter. 

A cross-reactive sensor array based on luminescence changes has been reported by Severin and coworkers [74]. In this case no synthetic modifications were operated, but the sensing elements were created by mixing some metal complexes with fluorescent dyes. The complex formation between metal ions, such as Rh, Ru or Pd, quenches the dye fluorescence the peptide competes with the dye for metal ion complexation, removing it from the complex. The fluorescence turn on is the signal of the peptide interaction. The activation of fluorescence is also an indication of the equilibrium reported in Fig. 24 and it is the basis of the peptides discrimination. The sensor array was able to differentiate between several dipeptides at 20-50 X 10 M concentration higher oligopeptides, such as bradykinin and kallidin were also discriminated and the system was also able to differentiate between two dipeptides, carnosine and homocamosine, in a more complex environment such as human serum. 

There is no doubt that, initially, the polymeric esters were used with the aim of illustrating that the peptide bond could be formed with their help. Until 1967 no synthetic applications of this method to naturally occurring peptides had been reported (Wunsch, 1971). However, the subsequent preparation of several linear and cyclic peptides— including the sequences of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Kalir et al., 1975), LH-RH (Fridkin et al., 1977), and bradykinin (Fridkin et al., 1968)—in pure and biologically active form using polymeric active esters has proved the practical potentiality of the method. 

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