Site‐Selective Cysteine–Cyclooctyne Conjugation

Abstract

We report a site‐selective cysteine–cyclooctyne conjugation reaction between a seven‐residue peptide tag (DBCO‐tag, Leu‐Cys‐Tyr‐Pro‐Trp‐Val‐Tyr) at the N or C terminus of a peptide or protein and various aza‐dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) reagents. Compared to a cysteine peptide control, the DBCO‐tag increases the rate of the thiol–yne reaction 220‐fold, thereby enabling selective conjugation of DBCO‐tag to DBCO‐linked fluorescent probes, affinity tags, and cytotoxic drug molecules. Fusion of DBCO‐tag with the protein of interest enables regioselective cysteine modification on proteins that contain multiple endogenous cysteines; these examples include green fluorescent protein and the antibody trastuzumab. This study demonstrates that short peptide tags can aid in accelerating bond‐forming reactions that are often slow to non‐existent in water.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 26, 2018
Source ID
10.1002/ange.201800860

Entities

People

  • Alexander A Vinogradov
  • Bradley L. Pentelute
  • Chi Zhang
  • Peng Dai
  • Zachary P. Gates

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Immunology
  • Molecular Genetics