title: A chemical strategy to promote helical peptide-protein interactions involved in apoptosis.
abstract: Protein-protein interactions often involve secondary structural elements, such as helices. Protein-protein interactions within the Bcl-2 family are mediated by the helical BH3 domain of proapoptotic family members, such as Bad, Bak, Bax, or Bid. Here, we report that two 5-residue fragments located at the N- and C-termini of the 16-residue BH3 domain of Bad, respectively, serve as affinity-enhancing motifs (AEMs) for the BH3 domain. When added to the BH3 domain derived from other proapoptotic proteins such as Bak, Bax, or Bid, these AEMs significantly increased the Bcl-2-binding affinity of these BH3 peptides by promoting the helical structure. This finding may point to a new strategy for studying and mimicking helical peptide-protein interactions involved in apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Dongxiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Ziwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017209:Apoptosis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D011506:Proteins