Use of a conformationally restricted secondary structural element to display peptide libraries: A two-stranded alpha-helical coiled-coil stabilized by lactam bridges

A model for an alpha-helical peptide library based on a lactam bridged stabilized two-stranded alpha-helical coiled-coil is described. Sites for library display were incorporated in the middle of the peptide sequence on the most solvent accessible sites of a coiled-coil. A comparison was made between this coiled coil and a native coiled-coil based on the same sequence but lacking the lactam bridges. A lactam bridged peptide where the hydrophobic repeat consisted of all alanine residues, such that the tendency to dimerize would be diminished, was also prepared. This enabled us to determine the role tertiary interactions play in maintaining library positions in a helical conformation. The consensus sequence derived from a Zn finger library screened against an IgA reactive against the lipopolysaccharide of Shigella flexneri was transplanted into the peptides. CD spectroscopy revealed that although both coiled-coils are highly helical at 100 mu M, the lactam bridges enhanced dimerization and allow the peptide to maintain its coiled-coil conformation at lower peptide concentrations. The helical content of the alanine based peptide was 69% and was independent of concentration over a range of 1.4 to 1410 mu M. Urea denaturation studies indicated that the coiled-coils were considerably more stable than the alanine based peptide and that the lactam bridge coiled-coil was more stable than the native coiled coil by 1.6 kcal/mol. The lactam bridged coiled-coil was found to inhibit binding of the Zn finger peptide to the IgA in a concentration dependent manner with an IC50 of 5.0 mu M whereas the peptide lacking the lactam bridges was much less effective in inhibiting binding. The alanine peptide was less active than the lactam bridged coiled-coil but more effective than the native coiled-coil with an IC50 of 16 mu M. The versatility of the lactam stabilized coiled-coil template was demonstrated by incorporating five Gly residues into the library display sites. While the native coiled-coil adopted a random conformation the lactam bridged coiled-coil was 59% helical. Incorporation of a Cys-Gly-Gly linker to the N terminus and formation of a disulfide bond stabilized the peptide to the extent that it adopted a highly helical coiled-coil (94%) with a [urea](1/2) value of 5.9 M. Since the five glycine residues represent one of the most destabilizing combinations of amino acids that would be encountered at the five library display sites (with the exception of Pro), this stabilized coiled-coil should maintain its folded conformation regardless of the amino acids occupying the library positions. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited