title: Identification and Characterization of Strychnine-Binding Peptides Using Phage-Display Screening.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In drug development, phage display is a high-throughput method for identifying the specific cellular targets of drugs. However, insoluble small chemicals remain intractable to this technique because of the difficulty of presenting molecules to phages without occupying or destroying the limited functional groups.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In the present study, we selected Strychnine (Stry) as a model compounda and sought to develope an alternative in vitro biopanning strategy against insoluble suspension.
  
  
  METHODS
  A phage library displaying random sequences of fifteen peptides was employed to screen for interactions between Stry and its cellular selective binding peptides, which are of great value to have a complete understanding of the mechanism of Stry for its antitumor activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After four rounds of biopanning, a selection of 100 binding clones was randomly picked and subjected to modified proliferation and diffusion assays to evaluate the binding affinity of the clones. Finally, eleven clones were identified as positive binders. The corresponding peptides were synthesized and detected for their binding activities using surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides a feasible scheme for confirming the interaction of chemical compounds and cellular binding peptides.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing. China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science & Biotechnology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing. China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science & Biotechnology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing. China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science & Biotechnology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Meng
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing. China.
authors.forename: Chun-Lei
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan. China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D019151:Peptide Library; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D011485:Protein Binding; D013331:Strychnine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D019151:Peptide Library; D010455:Peptides; D013331:Strychnine
keywords: Strychnine; binding peptide; biopanning; diffusion assays; phage display; proliferation assays; surface plasmon
  resonance imaging