ABSTRACT
Chemical synthesis in combination with precision polymer modification allows the systematic exploration of the effect of protein properties, such as charge and hydrodynamic radius, on potency using defined, homogeneous conjugates. A series of polymer-modified synthetic erythropoiesis proteins were constructed that had a polypeptide chain similar to the amino acid sequence of human erythropoietin but differed significantly in the number and type of attached polymers. The analogs differed in charge from +5 to -26 at neutral pH and varied in molecular weight from 30 to 54 kDa. All were active in an in vitro cell proliferation assay. However, in vivo potency was found to be strongly dependent on overall charge and size. The trends observed in this study may serve as starting points for the construction of more potent synthetic EPO analogs in the future.
Subject(s)
Erythropoiesis/physiology , Polymers/chemical synthesis , Proteins/chemical synthesis , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Binding Sites/drug effects , Binding Sites/physiology , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Erythropoietin/chemical synthesis , Erythropoietin/metabolism , Erythropoietin/physiology , Humans , Macaca fascicularis , Mice , Molecular Sequence Data , Polymers/metabolism , Polymers/pharmacology , Proteins/metabolism , Proteins/physiology , RatsABSTRACT
Expressed protein ligation was used to replace the axial methionine of the blue copper protein azurin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa with unnatural amino acids. The highly conserved methionine121 residue was replaced with the isostructural amino acids norleucine (Nle) and selenomethionine (SeM). The UV-visible absorption, X- and Q-band EPR, and Cu EXAFS spectra of the variants are slightly perturbed from WT. All variants have a predominant S(Cys) to Cu(II) charge transfer band around 625 nm and narrow EPR hyperfine splittings. The Se EXAFS of the M121SeM variant is also reported. In contrast to the small spectral changes, the reduction potentials of M121SeM, M121Leu, and M121Nle are 25, 135, and 140 mV, respectively, higher than that of WT azurin. The use of unnatural amino acids allowed deconvolution of different factors affecting the reduction potentials of the blue copper center. A careful analysis of the WT azurin and its variants obtained in this work showed the large reduction potential variation was linearly correlated with the hydrophobicity of the axial ligand side chains. Therefore, hydrophobicity is the dominant factor in tuning the reduction potentials of blue copper centers by axial ligands.
Subject(s)
Azurin/chemistry , Methionine/chemistry , Norleucine/chemistry , Selenomethionine/chemistry , Absorptiometry, Photon , Azurin/genetics , Azurin/metabolism , Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy , Ligands , Methionine/metabolism , Mutagenesis, Site-Directed , Norleucine/metabolism , Oxidation-Reduction , Pseudomonas aeruginosa/chemistry , Selenomethionine/metabolism , Spectrophotometry, UltravioletABSTRACT
We report the design and total chemical synthesis of "synthetic erythropoiesis protein" (SEP), a 51-kilodalton protein-polymer construct consisting of a 166-amino-acid polypeptide chain and two covalently attached, branched, and monodisperse polymer moieties that are negatively charged. The ability to control the chemistry allowed us to synthesize a macromolecule of precisely defined covalent structure. SEP was homogeneous as shown by high-resolution analytical techniques, with a mass of 50,825 +/-10 daltons by electrospray mass spectrometry, and with a pI of 5.0. In cell and animal assays for erythropoiesis, SEP displayed potent biological activity and had significantly prolonged duration of action in vivo. These chemical methods are a powerful tool in the rational design of protein constructs with potential therapeutic applications.
