Modulating pyridoxamine-mediated transamination through a ββα motif peptide scaffold Original Research Article

A pyridoxamine coenzyme amino acid chimera (Pam) was incorporated into a designed ββα motif peptide to explore the ability of a small synthetic peptide scaffold to influence coenzyme mediated transamination. Structural characterization of this peptide by CD and NMR spectroscopy suggested that the pyridoxamine containing residue was accommodated into the sheet region of the motif without gross structural perturbations. To investigate the ability of the peptide architecture to influence the amount and distribution of transamination product in the conversion of pyruvic acid to alanine, a family of 18 related peptides, CBP01-CBP18, was rapidly synthesized and purified in parallel. These peptides were designed to generate different peptide environments for the pyridoxamine functionality within the context of the structured ββα peptide motif. Studies of peptide-mediated transamination revealed clear trends in stereospecific production of l-alanine as a function of substitutions at positions five and seven of the motif. Furthermore, new trends favoring the other enantiomeric product resulted from the addition of copper(II) ion, a known chelator of the transamination reaction intermediates. In the presence of copper(II) ion the amount of alanine product generated was increased by up to 32-fold relative to a pyridoxamine model compound in the presence of copper(II) ion. These functional results, accompanied by further CD and NMR spectroscopic analysis of CBP14, one of the CBP family of peptides, suggest that small synthetic ββα motif peptides can be used to influence the functional properties of coenzymes.