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Updated: May 16, 2026

Synthesis and Structure Determination of µ-Conotoxin PIIIA Isomers with Different Disulfide Connectivities
Published on: October 2, 2018
Synthesis and characterization of the 47-residue heterodimeric antimicrobial peptide distinctin, featuring directed
Daniel G Mullen1, Raffaello Verardi, Fernando Porcelli
1Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Abstract:
Distinctin, a 47-residue heterodimeric peptide with potent antimicrobial activity, comprises two monomeric units linked covalently by a disulfide bond between Cys19 from the 22-residue A chain and Cys23 from the 25-residue B chain. Previous synthetic strategies involved assemblies of the two individual chains, followed by their co-oxidation to form the connecting disulfide bridge, and resulted in a mixture of three species: two homodimers and one heterodimer. Here, we report synthesis of exclusively heterodimeric distinctin, using recently developed tactics for directed disulfide bridge formation. Material prepared this way was characterized and found to be suitable for more detailed structural studies.
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