Department of Chemistry, Discovery Hall, University of Vermont, 82 University Place, Burlington, VT, 05405.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Vermont, 89 Beaumont Ave, Given Laboratory, Room B413, Burlington, VT, 05405.
J Pept Sci. 2020 Mar;26(3):e3236. doi: 10.1002/psc.3236. Epub 2019 Dec 19.
There are many examples of bioactive, disulfide-rich peptides and proteins whose biological activity relies on proper disulfide connectivity. Regioselective disulfide bond formation is a strategy for the synthesis of these bioactive peptides, but many of these methods suffer from a lack of orthogonality between pairs of protected cysteine (Cys) residues, efficiency, and high yields. Here, we show the utilization of 2,2'-dipyridyl diselenide (PySeSePy) as a chemical tool for the removal of Cys-protecting groups and regioselective formation of disulfide bonds in peptides. We found that peptides containing either Cys(Mob) or Cys(Acm) groups treated with PySeSePy in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) (with or without triisopropylsilane (TIS) were converted to Cys-S-SePy adducts at 37 °C and various incubation times. This novel Cys-S-SePy adduct is able to be chemoselectively reduced by five-fold excess ascorbate at pH 4.5, a condition that should spare already installed peptide disulfide bonds from reduction. This chemoselective reduction by ascorbate will undoubtedly find utility in numerous biotechnological applications. We applied our new chemistry to the iodine-free synthesis of the human intestinal hormone guanylin, which contains two disulfide bonds. While we originally envisioned using ascorbate to chemoselectively reduce one of the formed Cys-S-SePy adducts to catalyze disulfide bond formation, we found that when pairs of Cys(Acm) residues were treated with PySeSePy in TFA, the second disulfide bond formed spontaneously. Spontaneous formation of the second disulfide is most likely driven by the formation of the thermodynamically favored diselenide (PySeSePy) from the two Cys-S-SePy adducts. Thus, we have developed a one-pot method for concomitant deprotection and disulfide bond formation of Cys(Acm) pairs in the presence of an existing disulfide bond.
有许多具有生物活性的富含二硫键的肽和蛋白质的例子,它们的生物活性依赖于正确的二硫键连接。区域选择性二硫键形成是合成这些生物活性肽的一种策略,但许多这些方法在保护的半胱氨酸(Cys)残基对之间缺乏正交性、效率和高收率。在这里,我们展示了 2,2'-二吡啶二硒醚(PySeSePy)作为一种化学工具,用于去除 Cys 保护基团和肽中二硫键的区域选择性形成。我们发现,在三氟乙酸(TFA)(有或没有三异丙基硅烷(TIS)中,含有 Cys(Mob)或 Cys(Acm)基团的肽用 PySeSePy 处理,在 37°C 和不同的孵育时间下转化为 Cys-S-SePy 加合物。这种新型的 Cys-S-SePy 加合物能够在 pH 4.5 下被五倍过量的抗坏血酸选择性还原,这种条件应该可以避免已经安装的肽二硫键被还原。抗坏血酸的这种选择性还原无疑将在许多生物技术应用中找到用途。我们将我们的新化学方法应用于不含碘的人类肠激素 guanylin 的合成,它含有两个二硫键。虽然我们最初设想使用抗坏血酸选择性还原形成的 Cys-S-SePy 加合物之一来催化二硫键形成,但我们发现当 Cys(Acm)残基对用 PySeSePy 在 TFA 中处理时,第二个二硫键会自发形成。第二个二硫键的自发形成很可能是由两个 Cys-S-SePy 加合物形成热力学有利的二硒醚(PySeSePy)驱动的。因此,我们开发了一种在存在现有二硫键的情况下同时进行 Cys(Acm)对脱保护和二硫键形成的一锅法。