title: Characterization of triple-helical conformations and melting analyses of synthetic collagen-like peptides by reversed-phase HPLC.
abstract: There is a confusion in the application of circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy in analyzing collagen's structure for the overlapping of the spectral shapes and positions of the collagen triple helix and poly(proline-II)-like structure. The unique repetitive sequence of the collagen triple helix is susceptible to misalignment during the spontaneous assembly. Such misaligned structures are usually difficult to be characterized by CD or NMR spectroscopy. Here, RP-HPLC was developed as a conformational characterization technique for synthetic collagen-like peptides based on the different hydrophobicities exhibited by the triple-helical and unassembled peptides. RP-HPLC was also used to study thermal transitions and to measure melting point temperatures (Tm) of the collagen-like peptides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Shih Tak
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Khew
authors.forename: Yen Wah
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Tong
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization