Structural and biological mimicry of protein surface recognition by [alpha/beta]-peptide foldamers
Unnatural oligomers that can mimic protein surfaces offer a potentially useful strategy for blocking biomedically important protein-protein interactions. Here we evaluate an approach based on combining {alpha}- and {beta}-amino acid residues in the context of a polypeptide sequence from the HIV protein gp41, which represents an excellent testbed because of the wealth of available structural and biological information. We show that {alpha}/{beta}-peptides can mimic structural and functional properties of a critical gp41 subunit. Physical studies in solution, crystallographic data, and results from cell-fusion and virus-infectivity assays collectively indicate that the gp41-mimetic {alpha}/{beta}-peptides effectively block HIV-cell fusion via a mechanism comparable to that of gp41-derived {alpha}-peptides. An optimized {alpha}/{beta}-peptide is far less susceptible to proteolytic degradation than is an analogous {alpha}-peptide. Our findings show how a two-stage design approach, in which sequence-based {alpha} {yields} {beta} replacements are followed by site-specific backbone rigidification, can lead to physical and biological mimicry of a natural biorecognition process.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1005894
- Journal Information:
- Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 106, Issue (35) ; 09, 2009; ISSN 0027-8424
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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