We describe a general synthetic strategy for developing high affinity peptide binders against specific epitopes of challenging protein biomarkers. The epitope of interest is synthesized as a polypeptide, with a detection biotin tag and a strategically placed azide (or alkyne) presenting amino acid. This synthetic epitope (SynEp) is incubated with a library of complementary alkyne or azide presenting peptides. Library elements that bind the SynEp in the correct orientation undergo the Huisgen cycloaddition, and are covalently linked to the SynEp. Hit peptides are tested against the full-length protein to identify a best binder. We describe epitope-targeted linear or macrocycle peptide ligands against 12 different diagnostic or therapeutic analytes. The general epitope targeting capability for these low molecular weight synthetic ligands enables a range of therapeutic and diagnostic applications, similar to those of monoclonal antibodies.

We report the first direct observation of the self-association behavior of the Staphylococcus aureus sortase A (SrtA) transpeptidase. Formation of a SrtA dimer was observed under native conditions by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). Subsequent peptide mass fingerprinting and protein sequencing experiments confirmed the dimeric form of the SrtA protein. Furthermore, SrtA can be selectively cross-linked both in vitro and in Escherichia coli. Multiple samples of enzyme were subjected to analytical sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation to obtain an apparent Kd for dimer formation of about 55 microM. Finally, enzyme kinetic studies suggested that the dimeric form of SrtA is more active than the monomeric enzyme. Discovery of SrtA dimerization may have significant implications for understanding microbial physiology and developing new antibiotics.

Staphylococcus aureus Sortase A (SrtA) is an important Gram-positive membrane enzyme which catalyzes the anchoring of many cell surface proteins conserved with the LPXTG sequence. Recently SrtA has been demonstrated to be a dimer with a Kd of 55 microM in vitro. Herein, we show that a single point mutation of amino acid residue on the surface of SrtA can completely disrupt the dimerization. Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and analytical gel filtration chromatography were used to detect the dimer-monomer equilibrium of SrtA mutants. Circular dichroism spectrum experiments were performed to study the conformational change of each SrtA mutant. An enzyme activity assay confirmed that all the SrtA mutants were active in vitro. Our results not only are important for understanding the SrtA protein self-associating mechanism but also provided the necessary starting materials for the study of sortase A pathway in vivo, which may have significant implications for discovering microbial physiology and give a potential target for novel Gram-positive antibiotics.

Ligands that can selectively bind to proteins with single amino acid point mutations offer the potential to detect or treat an abnormal protein in the presence of the wildtype. However, it is difficult to develop a selective ligand if the point mutation is not associated with an addressable location, such as a binding pocket. Here we report an all-chemical, synthetic epitope-targeting strategy which we used to discover a 5-mer peptide with selectivity for the E17K transforming point mutation in the Pleckstrin Homology Domain of the Akt1 oncoprotein. A fragment of Akt1 containing the E17K mutation and a I19[Propargylglycine] substitution was synthesized to form an addressable synthetic epitope. Azide-presenting peptides that covalently clicked onto this alkyne-presenting epitope were selected from a library using in situ screening. One peptide exhibits a 10:1 in vitro selectivity for the oncoprotein relative to wildtype, with a similar selectivity in cells. This 5-mer peptide was expanded into a larger ligand that selectively blocks the E17K Akt1 interaction with its PIP3 substrate.

In this work, focused near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser pulses were used to transiently perforate the cellular membrane of targeted human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells and the uptake of extrinsic molecules into the targeted cells was observed. Various cellular responses to the laser treatments were closely analyzed to optimize several experimental parameters such as laser power, exposure time and location of laser irradiation using a membrane impermeable fluorescent dye. The optimized parameters were used to investigate the entry of a plasmid DNA encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the target cells. Since laser beam with higher-than-threshold energy level will disintegrate cells, we used Matlab simulations to characterize the laser irradiance and free electron distribution caused by the femtosecond-optoporation process. The simulation results showed that the free electron distribution is much narrower than the laser irradiance, which implies that the transient perforation can even be smaller than the size of the laser focal volume. Femtosecond laser-assisted optoporation when combined with lab-on-a-chip devices can be useful in single cell-based high-throughput screening.