| 1. |
- Hossain, M. Akhter, et al.
(författare)
-
Synthesis, conformation, and activity of human insulin-like peptide 5 (INSL5)
- 2008
-
Ingår i: ChemBioChem. - : Wiley. - 1439-4227 .- 1439-7633. ; 9:11, s. 1816-1822
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Insulin-like peptide 5 (INSL5) was first identified through searches of the expressed sequence tags (EST) databases. Primary sequence analysis showed it to be a prepropeptide that was predicted to be processed in vivo to yield a two-chain sequence (A and B) that contained the insulin-like disulfide cross-links. The high affinity interaction between INSL5 and the receptor RXFP4 (GPCR142) coupled with their apparent coevolution and partially overlapping tissue expression patterns strongly suggest that INSL5 is an endogenous ligand for RXFP4. Given that the primary function of the INSL5–RXFP4 pair remains unknown, an effective means of producing sufficient quantities of this peptide and its analogues is needed to systematically investigate its structural and biological properties. A combination of solid-phase peptide synthesis methods together with regioselective disulfide bond formation were used to obtain INSL5. Both chains were unusually resistant to standard synthesis protocols and required highly optimized conditions for their acquisition. In particular, the use of a strong tertiary amidine, DBU, as Nα-deprotection base was required for the successful assembly of the B chain; this highlights the need to consider incomplete deprotection rather than acylation as a cause of failed synthesis. Following sequential disulfide bond formation and chain combination, the resulting synthetic INSL5, which was obtained in good overall yield, was shown to possess a similar secondary structure to human relaxin-3 (H3 relaxin). The peptide was able to inhibit cAMP activity in SK-N-MC cells that expressed the human RXFP4 receptor with a similar activity to H3 relaxin. In contrast, it had no activity on the human RXFP3 receptor. Synthetic INSL5 demonstrates equivalent activity to the recombinant-derived peptide, and will be an important tool for the determination of its biological function.
|
|
| 2. |
- Hossain, M. Akhter, et al.
(författare)
-
The A-chain of the human relaxin family peptides has distinct roles in the binding and activation of the different relaxin family peptide receptors
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Biological Chemistry. - 0021-9258 .- 1083-351X. ; 283:25, s. 17287-17297
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relaxin peptides are a family of hormones that share a structural fold characterized by two chains, A and B, that are cross-braced by three disulfide bonds. Relaxins signal through two different classes of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), leucine-rich repeat-containing GPCRs LGR7 and LGR8 together with GPCR135 and GPCR142, now referred to as the relaxin family peptide (RXFP) receptors 1-4, respectively. Although key binding residues have been identified in the B-chain of the relaxin peptides, the role of the A-chain in their activity is currently unknown. A recent study showed that INSL3 can be truncated at the N terminus of its A-chain by up to 9 residues without affecting the binding affinity to its receptor RXFP2 while becoming a high affinity antagonist. This suggests that the N terminus of the INSL3 A-chain contains residues essential for RXFP2 activation. In this study, we have synthesized A-chain truncated human relaxin-2 and -3 (H2 and H3) relaxin peptides, characterized their structure by both CD and NMR spectroscopy, and tested their binding and cAMP activities on RXFP1, RXFP2, and RXFP3. In stark contrast to INSL3, A-chain-truncated H2 relaxin peptides lost RXFP1 and RXFP2 binding affinity and concurrently cAMP-stimulatory activity. H3 relaxin A-chain-truncated peptides displayed similar properties on RXFP1, highlighting a similar binding mechanism for H2 and H3 relaxin. In contrast, A-chain-truncated H3 relaxin peptides showed identical activity on RXFP3, highlighting that the B-chain is the sole determinant of the H3 relaxin-RXFP3 interaction. Our results provide new insights into the action of relaxins and demonstrate that the role of the A-chain for relaxin activity is both peptide- and receptor-dependent.
|
|
| 3. |
- Zhang, Suode, et al.
(författare)
-
Facile synthesis of N-protected amino acid assisted by microwave irradiation
- 2008
-
Ingår i: International journal of peptide research and therapeutics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-3149 .- 1573-3904. ; 14:3, s. 219-222
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A highly efficient and safe methodology for synthesis of various N-protected amino acid ethyl esters have been established in this study. This methodology employs orthoesters as both esterification reagent and solvent for protected amino acids. The reactions were carried out under microwave irradiation in neutral conditions for only 2 min, resulting in highly pure crude products in most cases. This strategy works with a variety of N-protecting groups, such as acid labile protecting group: BOC and tBu, base labile protecting group: Fmoc, hydrogenation labile protecting group: Z and Na/NH3 labile protecting group: Tos, thus providing facile access to numerous valuable building blocks for solid phase synthesis. Further reduction of the crude protected amino acid ethyl ester by sodium borohydride under mild conditions led to the corresponding protected beta-amino alcohols with excellent yield, as demonstrated by three examples.
|
|
