Kinetic and Mechanistic Studies of Native Chemical Ligation with Phenyl α-Selenoester Peptides

Native chemical ligation (NCL) ligates two unprotected peptides in an aqueous buffer. One of the fragments features a C-terminal α-thioester functional group, and the second bears an N-terminal cysteine. The reaction mechanism depicts two steps: an intermolecular thiol-thioester exchange resulting i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sánchez-Campillo, Iván, Blanco-Canosa, Juan B.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/371685
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/371685
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85208050472
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Thioesters
Chemical protein synthesis
Native chemical ligation
Peptides
Selenoesters
http://metadata.un.org/sdg/3
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Descripción
Sumario:Native chemical ligation (NCL) ligates two unprotected peptides in an aqueous buffer. One of the fragments features a C-terminal α-thioester functional group, and the second bears an N-terminal cysteine. The reaction mechanism depicts two steps: an intermolecular thiol-thioester exchange resulting in a transient thioester, followed by an intramolecular S-to-N acyl shift to yield the final native peptide bond. Although this mechanism is well established, the direct observation of the transient thioester has been elusive because the fast intramolecular rearrangement prevents its accumulation. Here, the use of α-selenoester peptides allows a faster first reaction and an early buildup of the intermediate, enabling its quantification and the kinetic monitoring of the first and second steps. The results show a correlation between the steric hindrance in the α-thioester residue and the rearrangement rate. In bulky residues, the S-to-N acyl shift has a significant contribution to the overall reaction rate. This is particularly notable for valine and likely for other similar β-branched amino acids.