Selection of peptides with antibody-like properties

Abstract

The present invention provides a highly sensitive screening assay for the identification of peptide binding partners to virtually any peptide or polypeptide ligand. Utilizing an expression-repression readout system, the inventors have screened libraries of peptides and identified relatively small peptide molecules that bind to the provided target.

Description

[0001] The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 182,060, filed Feb. 11, 2000, the entire text of which is specifically incorporated by reference herein without disclaimer.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] A. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to the fields of protein chemistry, biochemistry, organic chemistry and molecular biology. More particularly, it concerns a novel screen for identifying peptides having target binding affinity. [0004] B. Description of Related Art [0005] With the end of the human genome project in sight, the next great challenge in human biology will be to deduce the function of the thousands of new gene products identified by the sequencing effort. Perhaps the most direct way to take advantage of knowing the sequences of these proteins would be to design compounds capable of binding specific epitopes in a factor of interest. These binding agents could then be used for a varie...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes a method for discovering small peptides that can be used as capture ligands for a specific target protein. This approach eliminates the need for creating macromolecular proteins to perform the same function. The method involves isolating complexes between small peptides and the target protein using a genetic selection scheme. The resulting peptides can be used for various biotechnology applications, such as identifying binding partners of a protein or controlling post-translational modification of proteins. The method is sensitive, efficient, and can be carried out in E. coli, making it easier to use for researchers. The patent also describes an alternative read-out system for identifying binding partners of a target peptide.

Problems solved by technology

This would obviate the need to create epitope-tagged versions of the native proteins for the purpose of immunoaffinity chromatography, a tedious and imperfect process that is not well-suited for high-throughput proteomic applications.

As stated above, a priori, it was not clear how feasible this endeavor would be.

This kind of shielding is not possible for complexes between small peptides.

Additionally, most peptides do not adopt stable secondary or tertiary structures, leading to the expectation that the entropic cost of forming a complex between small peptides would be much higher than binding of a peptide to a structurally well-defined protein.

These approaches failed completely.

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