Acquisition of a Peptide Synthesizer

为佛罗里达州立大学的生物分析设施购买一台复杂的多肽合成器将对化学家和生物学家的研究努力产生重大影响。对于克罗斯博士的工作，这一能力使固体核磁共振对膜结合多肽的结构研究比以前更详细。这些生物物理研究需要大量的同位素标记的多肽样本，这将允许开发三维结构和分子动力学的原子分辨率图。首先，这种能力将使胶原酶的作用机制得以研究，胶原酶不仅对氨基酸序列具有显着的特异性，而且对超分子结构特征也具有显着的特异性。为了解开这些特异性要求，将合成广泛的多肽，以更清楚地定义初级序列特异性。此外，还有可能合成具有某些超分子性质的特定序列。另一种需要合成肽来研究抗肿瘤药物(紫杉醇和紫杉醇类似物)与微管蛋白模型的结合。虽然结合研究才刚刚开始，但这一研究项目正受到人们的广泛关注，这些研究是了解紫杉醇抗肿瘤活性的重要一步。生物学家们还将研究大型蛋白质的合成片段。一个感兴趣的是表征促黄体激素释放抑制因子(LHRIF)以及制备超活性激动剂和拮抗剂的类似物。另一项将是检测抗体与合成多肽的结合，以及多肽抑制抗体与独特型或同种异型Ig分子之间的反应的能力。

The acquisition of a sophisticated peptide synthesizer for the Bioanalytical Facility at Florida State University will have a major impact on the research efforts of both chemists and biologists. For the work of Dr. Cross this capability makes possible a far more detailed structural study of membrane bound peptides by solid state NMR than has been possible before. These biophysical studies requiring large samples of isotopically labeled peptides will allow for the development of an atomic resolution picture of both the three dimensional structure and molecular dynamics. For one this capability will allow for studies of the mechanism of action of the collagenase enzymes which have a remarkable specificity not only for the amino acid sequence but also for supramolecular structural features. To deconvolute these specificity requirements, a wide range of peptides will be synthesized to more clearly define the primary sequence specificity. Futhermore it is possible to synthesize specific sequences which have certain supramolecular properties. Another requires synthetic peptides for studying the binding of antitumor agents (taxol and taxol analogs) to tublin models. While the binding studies are just being initiated this research project is getting a lot of attention and these studies are a very important step in the understanding of the taxol antitumor activity. The biologists, will also be studying synthetic segments of large proteins. One is interested in characterizing the Luteinizing Hormone Release Inhibiting Factor (LHRIF) as well as preparing analogs of super active agonists and antagonists. Another will be assaying for antibody binding to synthetic polypeptides, as well as an ability of the polypeptides to inhibit reactivity between antibody and idiotope or allotype- bearing Ig molecule.