Cyclic Peptides Made by Linking Synthetic and Genetically Encoded Fragments

Abstract

Cyclic peptides can be highly valuable as bioactive molecules, both for biomedical applications and in basic research. We introduce a new fragment-based approach to access cyclic peptide structures in which one fragment is of synthetic origin and the other is genetically encoded. The synthetic peptide, which can contain one or more non-proteinogenic building blocks, is coupled to the recombinantly expressed peptide through two bonds, one formed by protein trans-splicing with a split intein and the other by oxime ligation. Semisynthetic macrocycles were obtained with high efficiency for various sequences and ring sizes; they can be prepared in quantities sufficient for initial bioactivity tests. We also prepared lipidated and d-amino-acid-containing peptides that were inspired by the peptide antibiotic daptomycin. Such structures are not accessible by other methods that harness the power of simple genetic diversification in the DNA-encoded part of the peptide.

Keywords: antibiotics; biosynthesis; intein; macrocycles; peptides.