Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Biopolymers. 2010;94(3):307-13. doi: 10.1002/bip.21360.
alpha-Conotoxins are multiple disulfide bond containing peptides that are isolated from venomous marine cone snails. They display remarkable selectivity for different subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). While alpha-conotoxins display poor resistance to in vivo degradation by proteases, which limits their use as drug leads, N-to-C cyclization via an oligopeptide spacer unit has been previously shown to improve stability. However, the effect of N-to-C cyclization on the formation of the disulfide bond framework is not fully understood. Four N-to-C cyclic analogs of alpha-conotoxin ImI; cImI-A, cImI-betaA, cImI-AG, and cImI-AGG were synthesized to evaluate the effect of oligopeptide spacer length on disulfide bond selectivity and stability to proteolysis. Different ratios of disulfide bond isomers were obtained for each analog using a nonselective random disulfide bond forming strategy, which was dependent on the length of the spacer. To identify each isomer obtained using the random strategy, and to gain access to disulfide bond isomers otherwise unattainable using the random strategy, both the native (globular) and ribbon isomers were synthesized in good yield and purity using a selective orthogonal cysteine protecting group strategy. As such, a random oxidation strategy showed a clear preference for the ribbon isomer in cImI-A. The cyclic globular isomers showed a high resistance to enzymatic degradation compared to the ribbon isomers, with the cImI-A and cImI-AG globular isomers demonstrating the highest stability. These results suggest that cyclization can improve the biochemical stability of conotoxins with potential applications in the development of drugs.
α-芋螺毒素是一类含有多个二硫键的多肽,从有毒的海洋芋螺中分离得到。它们对不同亚型的烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体(nAChRs)显示出显著的选择性。虽然 α-芋螺毒素对蛋白酶体内降解的抗性较差,限制了它们作为药物先导物的应用,但通过寡肽间隔单元进行 N 到 C 的环化已被证明可以提高稳定性。然而,N 到 C 的环化对二硫键框架形成的影响尚未完全了解。为了评估寡肽间隔长度对二硫键选择性和对蛋白水解稳定性的影响,合成了四个 α-芋螺毒素 ImI 的 N 到 C 环化类似物:cImI-A、cImI-betaA、cImI-AG 和 cImI-AGG。使用非选择性随机二硫键形成策略获得了每个类似物的不同比例的二硫键异构体,这取决于间隔的长度。为了识别使用随机策略获得的每个异构体,并获得使用随机策略无法获得的二硫键异构体,使用选择性正交半胱氨酸保护基策略以高产率和高纯度合成了天然(球状)和带状异构体。因此,随机氧化策略在 cImI-A 中明显偏爱带状异构体。与带状异构体相比,环状球状异构体对酶降解具有更高的抗性,其中 cImI-A 和 cImI-AG 球状异构体表现出最高的稳定性。这些结果表明,环化可以提高芋螺毒素的生化稳定性,具有开发药物的潜在应用。