In order to demonstrate an important role of a β-sheet aggregation on insolubility of peptides, hydrophobic peptides having partial amino acid sequences found in natural proteins have been prepared by the step-wise elongation and fragment condensation methods. In conformity with the solubility prediction for protected peptides in our previous paper, solubility data indicate that insolubility of peptides appears to begin at octa- or nonapeptide levels. In hydrophobic sequences found in proteins, the structure of peptide backbones, namely, the β-structure clearly plays an important role on insolubility of peptides, but the composition of peptides does not. Solubility improvement in hydrophobic peptides included in α-helical regions of proteins is easily achieved by replacement of Ala residues with Aib residues. High solubility of the peptides containing Aib residues is clearly explained by the observation that replacement of Cα hydrogen atoms with methyl groups greatly disturbs β-sheet structures, promoting helical folding in peptides. The great ability of an Aib residue to promote helical folding is distinctly revealed in the peptide fragments included in α-helical regions of proteins as demonstrated before in model oligo(Leu)s.
为了证明β-折叠聚集对肽不溶性的重要作用,通过逐步延伸和片段缩合方法制备了具有天然蛋白质中发现的部分
氨基酸序列的疏
水性肽。与我们之前论文中受保护肽的溶解度预测一致,溶解度数据表明肽的不溶性似乎从八肽或九肽
水平开始。在蛋白质中发现的疏
水序列中,肽骨架的结构,即β-结构显然对肽的不溶性起着重要作用,但肽的组成却没有。通过用 Aib 残基替换 Ala 残基,可以轻松提高蛋白质 α 螺旋区域中疏
水性肽的溶解度。含有 Aib 残基的肽的高溶解度可以通过观察到用甲基取代 Cα 氢原子极大地扰乱 β-折叠结构、促进肽中的螺旋折叠来清楚地解释。 Aib 残基促进螺旋折叠的强大能力在蛋白质 α 螺旋区域中包含的肽片段中得到了明显的体现,如之前在模型寡 (Leu) 中所证明的那样。