No abstract

Reverse screening: A greatly simplified primary screening of protease specificity has been achieved by monitoring the fluorescence during the protease‐catalyzed coupling of amino acids instead of peptide hydrolysis on a solid support (see picture, AA=amino acid). This approach paves the way for flexible, rapid, high‐throughput identification and characterization of proteases without the need for expensively labeled peptide arrays.

No abstract

Hydroxymethylphenoxy linkers that are commonly used in solid phase peptide synthesis are surprisingly susceptible to efficient cleavage by the protease chymotrypsin with a broad range of amino acid residues being tolerated at the scissile bond; this enzyme-cleavable linker system has been applied to peptide and glycopeptide synthesis.

The ability to change the properties of solid surfaces on demand is a key component of a multitude of established and emerging technologies. Stimuli that have previously been used to trigger changes in surface properties include changes in solvent, light, pH, ionic strength, temperature and magnetic or electric fields. We are interested in developing surfaces that can be triggered by the catalytic action of enzymes. We demonstrate the selective protease (alpha-chymotrypsin and thermolysin) catalysed peptide hydrolysis of surface-tethered fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-dipeptides. We highlight some of the challenges evident from surface analysis in overcoming enzyme retention to the surface addressed by physical adsorption of soluble PEG(200) to the surface prior to enzyme exposure. Analysis by ToF-SIMS and XPS shows that alpha-chymotrypsin is deposited and retained on the surfaces and that thermolysin, a much more stable enzyme, selectively cleaves the tethered peptides as intended, and is removed from the surface by washing.