Increasing the Assembly Efficacy of Peptidic β-Sheets for a Highly-Sensitive HIV Detection

Anal Chem. 2020 Aug 18;92(16):11089-11094. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c00951. Epub 2020 Aug 7.

Abstract

Our recent publication illustrates the critical role of phenylalanine-mediated aromatic-aromatic interactions in determining the assembly of peptidic β-sheets. However, the effect of phenylalanine number on regulating the assembly efficacy of peptidic β-sheets remains poorly understood. We herein evaluate the assembly efficacy of β-sheets of a series of oligopeptides which contain 0, 1, 2, or 3 phenylalanine in their molecular backbones. In our assembly system, two phenylalanine (2F) is the minimum number for driving the assembly of β-sheets of oligopeptides. Oligopeptides with three phenylalanine (3F) show significantly increased assembly efficacy of β-sheets compared to that with 2F. These results suggest a positive correlation between the phenylalanine number and assembly efficacy of β-sheets. By improving the assembly efficacy of β-sheets, we further develop a highly sensitive HIV analytical system in which the specific binding of β-sheets with Congo Red induces enhanced fluorescence. For HIV p24 detection, the 3F-based analytical system (0.61 pg/mL) shows a significantly lower limit of detection (LOD) than the 2F-based analytical system (2.44 pg/mL), both of which are more sensitive than commercial ELISA (5 pg/mL) used in the clinic. This work not only illustrates the effect of phenylalanine number on regulating the assembly efficacy of β-sheets but also provides a guideline for the construction of a highly sensitive analytical system of disease diagnosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Blood / virology
  • Congo Red / chemistry
  • Congo Red / metabolism
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
  • Fluorescent Dyes / metabolism
  • HIV / chemistry*
  • HIV Core Protein p24 / blood*
  • HIV Core Protein p24 / chemistry
  • HIV Core Protein p24 / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Limit of Detection
  • Phenylalanine / chemistry
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation, beta-Strand / drug effects*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • HIV Core Protein p24
  • Congo Red
  • Phenylalanine