Computational design of peptides that target transmembrane helices

Science. 2007 Mar 30;315(5820):1817-22. doi: 10.1126/science.1136782.

Abstract

A variety of methods exist for the design or selection of antibodies and other proteins that recognize the water-soluble regions of proteins; however, companion methods for targeting transmembrane (TM) regions are not available. Here, we describe a method for the computational design of peptides that target TM helices in a sequence-specific manner. To illustrate the method, peptides were designed that specifically recognize the TM helices of two closely related integrins (alphaIIbbeta3 and alphavbeta3) in micelles, bacterial membranes, and mammalian cells. These data show that sequence-specific recognition of helices in TM proteins can be achieved through optimization of the geometric complementarity of the target-host complex.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Blood Platelets / physiology
  • Cell Membrane / chemistry*
  • Databases, Protein
  • Dimerization
  • Escherichia coli / chemistry
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
  • Humans
  • Integrin alphaVbeta3 / chemistry*
  • Integrin alphaVbeta3 / metabolism
  • Lipid Bilayers / chemistry
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Optical Tweezers
  • Osteopontin / metabolism
  • Peptides / chemistry*
  • Peptides / metabolism
  • Platelet Adhesiveness
  • Platelet Aggregation
  • Platelet Glycoprotein GPIIb-IIIa Complex / chemistry*
  • Platelet Glycoprotein GPIIb-IIIa Complex / metabolism
  • Protein Engineering*
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Spectrum Analysis

Substances

  • Integrin alphaVbeta3
  • Lipid Bilayers
  • Peptides
  • Platelet Glycoprotein GPIIb-IIIa Complex
  • Osteopontin