Dawson N F, Craik D J, McManus A M, Dashper S G, Reynolds E C, Tregear G W, Otvos L, Wade J D
Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
J Pept Sci. 2000 Jan;6(1):19-25. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1387(200001)6:1<19::AID-PSC230>3.0.CO;2-1.
The 32-residue peptide, RK-1, a novel kidney-derived three disulfide-bonded member of the antimicrobial alpha-defensin family, was synthesized by the continuous flow Fmoc-solid phase method. The crude, cleaved and S-reduced linear peptide was both efficiently folded and oxidized in an acidic solution of aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide. Following purification of the resulting product, it was shown by a variety of analytical techniques, including matrix assisted laser desorption time of flight mass spectrometry, to possess a very high degree of purity. The disulfide bond pairing of the synthetic peptide was determined by 1H-NMR spectroscopy and confirmed to be a Cys1-Cys6, Cys2-Cys4, Cys3-Cys5 arrangement similar to other mammalian alpha-defensin peptides. The synthetic RK-1 was also shown to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli type strain NCTC 10418.
