Dr. Martin Heil
(postdoc)

phone: 5395
room: 104
email: heil@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de

Dissertation-Abstract:

A medium sized combinatorial library of 512 members was synthesized on a solid support. Its structure was based on a cationic guanidiniocarbonyl pyrrole receptor as a carboxylate binding motif and a tripeptidic side chain to provide selectivity. The library was synthesized on Amino-TentaGel according to a standard Fmoc protocol following the „split and mix“ approach in combination with the IRORI-radio frequency tagging technology.
The library was designed for the molecular recognition of peptides with an unprotected C terminus. Two different biological important peptide models were chosen as targets for the determination of binding constants on solid support as well as in solution:

The C-terminal sequence of the Amyloid ß61538;-protein (1-42) L Val L Val L Ile L-Ala-OH, which is known to be critical for the seeding of amyloid formation and hence has strong implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and the tetrapeptide D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala-OH, which is linked to the antibacterial efficacy of some antibiotics like vancomycin. The determination of the binding constants on solid support was accomplished by a fluorescence binding assay, using the intense fluorescence activity of a dansyl group attached to the tetrapeptide. The use of the IRORI MikroKan technique allowed the determination of binding constants for all members of the library even in water.
In this assay the binding constants varied from 20 M 1 for the worst receptor sequences to 4200 M-1 for the best receptors, a discrimination of a factor of 200 among this moderately sized library. The majority of good binders had a Lys(Boc) side chain at position AA1. The binding constants determined on bead could be confirmed by the determination of binding constants of some receptors in solution by UV titrations.

In conclusion, cationic Guanidiniocarbonylpyrrole receptors are able to form stable complexes with the Alzheimer model peptide even in highly polar solvents. Furthermore, the activation energy for the dissociation of the noncovalent complex of a trivaline receptor with the Alzheimer model peptide in the gas phase was determined via FT-ICR IRMPD ESI-MS methods. In addition to this the ability of cationic guanidiniocarbonylpyrrole receptors identified in the library screening to inhibit fibril formation of Aß61538; (1-42) and Aß61538; (1-40) in vitro were performed. Two receptor sequences were capable of kinetic and quantitative reduction of the formation of fibrils of both proteins.. The determination of binding properties of the tetrapeptide D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala-OH with the receptor library was also performed by a fluorescence assay. This ligand is related to bacterial growth and therefore to the development of new antibiotics.

For the test of sequence selective peptide binding we used a fluorescent derivative of D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala-OH and the inverse sequence. The ligand D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala-OH showed distinct higher binding constants on solid phase than the inverse peptide. The association constants of D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala-OH for the best receptors are about 17000 M-1. For the inverse sequence the best binders are in the region of 5500 M-1. The tendencies of good binders were, however similar for both sequences. Receptors having two lysine residues at position AA1, AA2 or AA3, belonged to the best binders in both assays. The binding constants vary from the best to the worst receptors by a factor of 200 for both sequences! The binding constants determined on solid support for the peptidoglycan-model peptide could be again confirmed by the determination of binding constants in solution via UV- and fluorescence titrations. Cationic guanidiniocarbonylyprrole receptors are able to recognize tetrapeptides with free carboxylate with high association constants, even in highly polar solvents like methanol or water. As a concluding remark, it can be mentioned that complex stabilities of these peptidic ligands depend on a fine tuned combination of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions.