title: Structural plasticity of the cyclic-cystine-knot framework: implications for biological activity and drug design.
abstract: The cyclotide family of plant proteins is of interest because of their unique topology, which combines a head-to-tail cyclic backbone with an embedded cystine knot, and because their remarkable chemical and biological properties make them ideal candidates as grafting templates for biologically active peptide epitopes. The present study describes the first steps towards exploiting the cyclotide framework by synthesizing and structurally characterizing two grafted analogues of the cyclotide kalata B1. The modified peptides have polar or charged residues substituted for residues that form part of a surface-exposed hydrophobic patch that plays a significant role in the folding and biological activity of kalata B1. Both analogues retain the native cyclotide fold, but lack the undesired haemolytic activity of their parent molecule, kalata B1. This finding confirms the tolerance of the cyclotide framework to residue substitutions and opens up possibilities for the substitution of biologically active peptide epitopes into the framework.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Australian Research Council Centre for Functional and Applied Genomics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Norelle L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Craik
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D047169:Cyclotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D047168:Cystine Knot Motifs; D015195:Drug Design; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D017510:Protein Folding; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D047169:Cyclotides; D010940:Plant Proteins; C091930:kalata B1