Within OBCR, we have developed a highly selective and efficient furan-oxidation mediated crosslink technology which is applicable to peptide-protein, peptide-nucleic acid and nucleic acid interstrand crosslink scenarios.[1] Furan activation requires an oxidation trigger,[2] allowing spatiotemporal control of the crosslinking event.
We developed furan-modified peptide probes which can be used for efficient and selective crosslinking to natural protein targets.[3] In the context of peptide ligand-receptor interactions, we have described, in live cells under normal growth conditions, selective crosslinking of furan-modified peptide ligands to their membrane receptor with zero toxicity, high efficiency and spatio-specificity.[5]
Different furan and triazolinedione based chemistries were further developed for versatile and site-selective modification of proteins and synthesis of bioconjugates.[6] The talk will highlight selected specific examples of these cross-linking and conjugation methodologies.
The work was supported by the FWO-Vlaanderen, the BOF-UGent and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721613 (MMBio) and No. 665501 (Pegasus2).