The use of coiled-coil interactions for the analysis and micropreparative isolation of adenomatous polyposis coli protein complexes

The coiled coil is a common structural motif found both as the dominant structure in fibrous proteins and as an oligomerization domain in a variety of cytoskeletal and extracellular matrix proteins. Coiled-coils typically consist of two to four helices that are supercoiled around one another in either parallel or antiparallel orientations. In the past few years our knowledge of the structure and specificity of coiled coil interactions has increased, allowing the de novo design and preparation of coiled-coils with well-defined structure and specificity. Indeed, the design and synthesis of a peptide that binds specifically to a single coiled-coil-containing protein, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) has been reported. We have optimized solid-phase synthesis techniques to produce a modified form of the anti-APC peptide that contains a biotin moiety specifically placed so as to allow selective orientation onto the surface of a biosensor or affinity support. These peptide surfaces have been used to both monitor and purify APC and APC complexes from cellular extracts.