Molecular design of LPS-binding peptides

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major constituent of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, is highly toxic and can cause sepsis or septic shock. Therefore, detection of LPS and the ability to neutralize its toxicity is important. We previously obtained a strong LPS-binding peptide, Li5-001, using the phage display method (Matsumoto et al., 2010. J. Microbiol. Methods. 82, 54-58). We modified the sequence the amino acid sequence of this peptide (KNYSSSISSIHAC), by replacing and deleting amino acids to obtain higher LPS-binding affinity and greater resistance to protease digestion. Consequently we obtained a dodecapeptide, Li5-025 (K'YSSSISSIRAC', K' and C' are D-forms of K and C, respectively) which showed a high affinity for LPS, approximately 1000 folds higher affinity than Li5-001 and Kd value of 0.01 nM. By replacing both N- and C-terminal amino acids from L-type to D-type, the peptide was rendered resistant to protease digestion without altering its overall binding capacity.