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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

A Facile Protocol to Generate Site-Specifically Acetylated Proteins in Escherichia Coli
Published on: December 9, 2017
Furan-based acetylating agent for the chemical modification of proteins
Sudipta De1, Tarun Kumar2, Ashish Bohre1
1Laboratory of Catalysis, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, North Campus, Delhi 110007, India.
Abstract:
We have synthesized a furan-based acetylating agent, 2,5-bisacetoxymethylfuran (BAMF) from carbohydrate derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and studied its acetylation activity with amines and cytochrome c. The results show that BAMF can modify proteins in biological conditions without affecting their structure and function. The modification of cytochrome c with BAMF occurred through the reduction of heme center, but there was no change in the coordination property of iron and the tertiary structure of cytochrome c. Further analysis using MALDI-TOF-MS spectrometer suggests that BAMF selectively targeted lysine amino acid of cytochrome c under our experimental conditions. Kinetics study revealed that the modification of cytochrome c with BAMF took place at faster rates than aspirin.
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