Products/Services Used | Details | Operation |
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Peptide Synthesis> | NS4A wild type, mutants, and fluorescein isothiocyanate-NS4A (FITC-NS4A) synthetic peptides were ordered from GenScript (Hong Kong). Synthetic NS4A mutant peptides (Table 1) were ordered from Biosynthesis (Lewisville, TX, USA). All synthetic peptides used in this study contained Lys-Lys (KK) termini to increase aqueous solubility; moreover, the synthetic peptides possessed a purity of 85% or higher (LC/MS). | Get A Quote |
NS4A is a non-structural multi-tasking small peptide that is essential for HCV maturation and replication. The central odd-numbered hydrophobic residues of NS4A (Val-23’ to Leu-31‘)i are essential for activating NS3 upon NS3/4A protease complex formation. This study aims to design new specific allosteric NS3/4A protease inhibitors by mutating Val-23‘, Ile-25‘, and Ile-29‘ into bulkier amino acids. Pep-15, a synthetic peptide, showed higher binding affinity towards HCV-NS3 subtype-4 than native NS4A. The Kd of Pep-15 (80.0 ± 8.0 nM) was twice as high as that of native NS4A (169 ± 37 nM). The mutant Pep-15 inhibited the catalytic activity of HCV-NS3 by forming an inactive complex. Molecular dynamic... More