posted on 2023-12-14, 21:29authored byBalamurugan Dhayalan, Stephen B. H. Kent, Ingrid Fetter-Pruneda
In the course of
an attempted total chemical synthesis
of the ant
insulin-like peptide-2 (ILP2) protein molecule, specific cleavage
of a backbone peptide bond in a branched ester-linked polypeptide
chain with concomitant peptide splicing was observed. The side reaction
was investigated in model compounds. Here, we postulate a chemical
mechanism for this novel polypeptide backbone cleavage reaction as
a chemical counterpart to the resolution step of biochemical intein-mediated
protein splicing.