© 2005 Oxford University Press
A simple approach to sense codon-templated synthesis of natural/unnatural hybrid peptides
Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan
In the presence of Phe-SA, the stable sulfamoyl analogue of phenylalanyl adenylate, the codon (UUU/UUC) for phenylalanine (Phe) can be reassigned to naphthylalanine (Nap) bound to tRNAPhe. The efficiency and selectivity of this Phe-to-Nap reassignment induced by the "orthogonal reacylation stalling" method was demonstrated at the single-codon level in the translation of mRNAs of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and a 24-mer oligopeptide. In the prokaryotic translation system with essential preincubation, the endogenous precharged phenylalanyl-tRNAPhe undergoes deacylation and reacylation of the resulting tRNAPhe is inhibited by the action of Phe-SA to kill the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase activity. The significance of the present small-molecule-based approach to sense-codon templated natural-unnatural peptides is discussed.