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Discover how PEPperPRINT Peptide Microarray products have been used in different fields of research.

Combinatorial Synthesis of Macromolecular Arrays by Microchannel Cantilever Spotting (µCS)

Atwater, Jordyn; Mattes, Daniela S.; Streit, Bettina; von Bojničić-Kninski, Clemens; Loeffler, Felix F.; Breitling, Frank; Fuchs, Harald; Hirtz, Michael
Adv. Mater..
Aug 2018
Surface-bound microarrays of multiple oligo- and macromolecules (e.g., peptides, DNA) offer versatile options in biomedical applications like drug screening, DNA analysis, or medical diagnostics. Combinatorial syntheses of these molecules in situ can save significant resources in regard to processing time and material use. Furthermore, high feature densities are needed to enable high-throughput and low sample volumes as generally regarded in combinatorial chemistry. Here, a scanning-probe-lithography-based approach for the combinatorial in situ synthesis of macromolecules is presented in microarray format. Feature sizes below 40 µm allow for the creation of high-density arrays with feature densities of 62 500 features per cm2. To demonstrate feasibility of this approach for biomedical applications, a multiplexed array of functional protein tags (HA- and FLAG-tag) is synthesized, and selective binding of respective epitope recognizing antibodies is shown. This approach uses only small amounts of base chemicals for synthesis and can be further parallelized, therefore, opening up a route to flexible, highly dense, and cost-effective microarrays.

Reductionist Approach in Peptide-Based Nanotechnology

Gazit, Ehud
Annu. Rev. Biochem..
Jun 2018
The formation of ordered nanostructures by molecular self-assembly of proteins and peptides represents one of the principal directions in nanotechnology. Indeed, polyamides provide superior features as materials with diverse physical properties. A reductionist approach allowed the identification of extremely short peptide sequences, as short as dipeptides, which could form well-ordered amyloid-like β-sheet-rich assemblies comparable to supramolecular structures made of much larger proteins. Some of the peptide assemblies show remarkable mechanical, optical, and electrical characteristics. Another direction of reductionism utilized a natural noncoded amino acid, α-aminoisobutryic acid, to form short superhelical assemblies. The use of this exceptional helix inducer motif allowed the fabrication of single heptad repeats used in various biointerfaces, including their use as surfactants and DNA-binding agents. Two additional directions of the reductionist approach include the use of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) and coassembly techniques. The diversified accomplishments of the reductionist approach, as well as the exciting future advances it bears, are discussed.

A Trifunctional Linker for Purified 3D Assembled Peptide Structure Arrays

Mattes, Daniela S.; Rentschler, Simone; Foertsch, Tobias C.; Münch, Stephan W.; Loeffler, Felix F.; Nesterov-Mueller, Alexander; Bräse, Stefan; Breitling, Frank
Small Methods.
Feb 2018
Microarrays are an important tool in modern research that allow the rapid screening of many different interactions simultaneously. Peptide arrays, which bear different peptides arranged in separate spots, permit high-throughput screening to investigate linear and cyclic binding sites. To study conformational or discontinuous binding sites, protein arrays are the major choice. However, the tremendous costs for the generation of high-density protein arrays of high purity restrict progress in protein research. Therefore, peptide-based arrays, which can mimic assembled peptide structures, have an enormous potential. Here, a method is presented to create such structures in the array format as an alternative to protein arrays. A trifunctional linker is developed with an azide, a protected alkyne, and a carboxyl group, which can react with two or three different peptides. Due to the spatial proximity, the peptides interact and can form an assembled peptide structure. As a proof of concept, assembled peptide structures are demonstrated on beads and on a polymer surface and the approach can be validated via matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization spectrometry. Furthermore, a multistep transfer of peptide arrays is shown, generating purified assembled peptide structure arrays in high density.

Spot peptide arrays and SPR measurements: throughput and quantification in antibody selectivity studies: Peptide Arrays for Antibody Selectivity Studies

Vernet, Thierry; Choulier, Laurence; Nominé, Yves; Bellard, Laure; Baltzinger, Mireille; Travé, Gilles; Altschuh, Danièle
J. Mol. Recognit..
Oct 2015
Antibody selectivity represents a major issue in the development of efficient immuno-therapeutics and detection assays. Its description requires a comparison of the affinities of the antibody for a significant number of antigen variants. In the case of peptide antigens, this task can now be addressed to a significant level of details owing to improvements in spot peptide array technologies. They allow the high-throughput mutational analysis of peptides with, depending on assay design, an evaluation of binding stabilities. Here, we examine the cross-reactive capacity of an antibody fragment using the PEPperCHIP® technology platform (PEPperPRINT GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany; >8800 peptides per microarray) combined with the surface plasmon resonance characterization (Biacore® technology; GE-Healthcare Biacore, Uppsala, Sweden) of a subset of interactions. ScFv1F4 recognizes the N-terminal end of oncoprotein E6 of human papilloma virus 16. The spot permutation analysis (i.e. each position substituted by all amino acids except cysteine) of the wild type decapeptide (sequence 6TAMFQDPQER15) and of 15 variants thereof defined the optimal epitope and provided a ranking for variant recognition. The SPR affinity measurements mostly validated the ranking of complex stabilities deduced from array data and defined the sensitivity of spot fluorescence intensities, bringing further insight into the conditions for cross-reactivity. Our data demonstrate the importance of throughput and quantification in the assessment of antibody selectivity.

Sensing Immune Responses with Customized Peptide Microarrays

Schirwitz, Christopher; Loeffler, Felix F.; Felgenhauer, Thomas; Stadler, Volker; Breitling, Frank; Bischoff, F. Ralf
Biointerphases.
Aug 2012
The intent to solve biological and biomedical questions in high-throughput led to an immense interest in microarray technologies. Nowadays, DNA microarrays are routinely used to screen for oligonucleotide interactions within a large variety of potential interaction partners. To study interactions on the protein level with the same efficiency, protein and peptide microarrays offer similar advantages, but their production is more demanding. A new technology to produce peptide microarrays with a laser printer provides access to affordable and highly complex peptide microarrays. Such a peptide microarray can contain up to 775 peptide spots per cm², whereby the position of each peptide spot and, thus, the amino acid sequence of the corresponding peptide, is exactly known. Compared to other techniques, such as the SPOT synthesis, more features per cm² at lower costs can be synthesized which paves the way for laser printed peptide microarrays to take on roles as efficient and affordable biomedical sensors. Here, we describe the laser printer-based synthesis of peptide microarrays and focus on an application involving the blood sera of tetanus immunized individuals, indicating the potential of peptide arrays to sense immune responses.

Physical Characterization of the “Immunosignaturing Effect”

Stafford, Phillip; Halperin, Rebecca; Legutki, Joseph Bart; Magee, Dewey Mitchell; Galgiani, John; Johnston, Stephen Albert
Mol Cell Proteomics.
Apr 2012
Identifying new, effective biomarkers for diseases is proving to be a challenging problem. We have proposed that antibodies may offer a solution to this problem. The physical features and abundance of antibodies make them ideal biomarkers. Additionally, antibodies are often elicited early in the ontogeny of different chronic and infectious diseases. We previously reported that antibodies from patients with infectious disease and separately those with Alzheimer’s disease display a characteristic and reproducible immunosignature on a microarray of 10,000 random sequence peptides. Here we investigate the physical and chemical parameters underlying how immunosignaturing works. We first show that a variety of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies raised against different classes of antigens produce distinct profiles on this microarray and the relative affinities are determined. A proposal for how antibodies bind the random sequences is tested. Sera from vaccinated mice and people suffering from a fugal infection are individually assayed to determine the complexity of signals that can be distinguished. Based on these results, we propose that this simple, general and inexpensive system could be optimized to generate a new class of antibody biomarkers for a wide variety of diseases.

Combinatorial Peptide Synthesis on a Microchip

Schirwitz, Christopher; Block, Ines; König, Kai; Nesterov, Alexander; Fernandez, Simon; Felgenhauer, Thomas; Leibe, Klaus; Torralba, Gloria; Hausmann, Michael; Lindenstruth, Volker; Stadler, Volker; Breitling, Frank; Bischoff, F. Ralf
Current Protocols in Protein Science.
Aug 2009
Microchips are used in the combinatorial synthesis of peptide arrays by means of amino acid microparticle deposition. The surface of custom-built microchips can be equipped with an amino-modified poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate (PEGMA) graft polymer coating, which permits high loading of functional groups and resists nonspecific protein adsorption. Specific microparticles that are addressed to the polymer-coated microchip surface in a well defined pattern release preactivated amino acids upon melting, and thus allow combinatorial synthesis of high-complexity peptide arrays directly on the chip surface. Currently, arrays with densities of up to 40,000 peptide spots/cm2 can be generated in this way, with a minimum of coupling cycles required for full combinatorial synthesis. Without using any additional blocking agent, specific peptide recognition has been verified by background-free immunostaining on the chip-based array. This unit describes microchip surface modification, combinatorial peptide array synthesis on the chip, and a typical immunoassay employing the resulting high-density peptide arrays.

Particle-Based Synthesis of Peptide Arrays

Breitling, Frank; Felgenhauer, Thomas; Nesterov, Alexander; Lindenstruth, Volker; Stadler, Volker; Bischoff, F. Ralf
ChemBioChem.
Mar 2009
Lithographic methods allow for the combinatorial synthesis of >50,000 oligonucleotides per cm(2), and this has revolutionized the field of genomics. High-density peptide arrays promise to advance the field of proteomics in a similar way, but currently lag behind. This is mainly due to the monomer-by-monomer repeated consecutive coupling of 20 different amino acids associated with lithography, which adds up to an excessive number of coupling cycles. Combinatorial synthesis based on electrically charged solid amino acid particles resolves this problem. A color laser printer or a chip addresses the different charged particles consecutively to a solid support, where, when completed, the whole layer of solid amino acid particles is melted at once. This frees hitherto immobilized amino acids to couple all 20 different amino acids to the support in one single coupling reaction. The method should allow for the translation of entire genomes into sets of overlapping peptides to be used in proteome research.

High-density peptide arrays

Breitling, Frank; Nesterov, Alexander; Stadler, Volker; Felgenhauer, Thomas; Bischoff, F. Ralf
Mol. BioSyst..
Jan 2009
Arrays promise to advance biology by allowing parallel screening for many different binding partners. Meanwhile, lithographic methods enable combinatorial synthesis of >50 000 oligonucleotides per cm2, an advance that has revolutionized the whole field of genomics. A similar development is expected for the field of proteomics, provided that affordable, very high-density peptide arrays are available. However, peptide arrays lag behind oligonucleotide arrays. This review discusses recent developments in the field with an emphasis on methods that lead to very high-density peptide arrays.

A Novel Combinatorial Approach to High-Density Peptide Arrays

Beyer, Mario; Block, Ines; König, Kai; Nesterov, Alexander; Fernandez, Simon; Felgenhauer, Thomas; Schirwitz, Christopher; Leibe, Klaus; Bischoff, Ralf F.; Breitling, Frank; Stadler, Volker
Combinatorial synthesis of peptides on solid supports (1), either as spots on cellulose membranes (2) or with split-pool-libraries on polymer beads (3), substantially forwarded research in the field of peptide-protein interactions. Admittedly, these concepts have specific limitations, on one hand the number of synthesizable peptide sequences per area, on the other hand elaborate decoding/encoding strategies, false-positive results and sequence limitations. We recently established a method to produce high-density peptide arrays on microelectronic chips (4). Solid amino acid microparticles were charged by friction and transferred to defined pixel electrodes onto the chip’s surface, where they couple to a functional polymer coating simply upon melting (Fig. 16.1 A-D,F). By applying standard Fmoc chemistry according to Merrifield, peptide array densities of up to 40,000 spots per square centimetre were achieved (Fig. 16.1G). The term Merrifield synthesis describes the consecutive linear coupling and deprotecting of L-amino acids modified with base-labile fluorenylmethoxy (Fmoc) groups at the N-terminus and different acid-sensitive protecting groups at their side chains. Removing side chain protecting groups takes place only once at the very end of each synthesis and generates the natural peptide sequence thereby.

Combinatorial Synthesis of Peptide Arrays onto a Microchip

Beyer, M.; Nesterov, A.; Block, I.; Konig, K.; Felgenhauer, T.; Fernandez, S.; Leibe, K.; Torralba, G.; Hausmann, M.; Trunk, U.; Lindenstruth, V.; Bischoff, F. R.; Stadler, V.; Breitling, F.
Science.
Dec 2007
Arrays promise to advance biology through parallel screening for binding partners. We show the combinatorial in situ synthesis of 40,000 peptide spots per square centimeter on a microchip. Our variant Merrifield synthesis immobilizes activated amino acids as monomers within particles, which are successively attracted by electric fields generated on each pixel electrode of the chip. With all different amino acids addressed, particles are melted at once to initiate coupling. Repetitive coupling cycles should allow for the translation of whole proteomes into arrays of overlapping peptides that could be used for proteome research and antibody profiling.

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