Diselenide-selenoester ligation for chemical protein synthesis

Chemoselective peptide ligation methods have provided synthetic access to numerous proteins, including those bearing native post-translational modifications and unnatural labels. This protocol outlines the chemical synthesis of proteins using a recently discovered reaction (diselenide-selenoester ligation (DSL)) in a rapid, additive-free manner. After ligation, the products can be chemoselectively deselenized to produce native peptide and protein products. We describe methods for the synthesis of suitably functionalized peptide diselenide and peptide selenoester fragments via Fmoc-solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) protocols, fusion of these fragments by DSL, and the chemoselective deselenization of the ligation products to generate native synthetic proteins. We demonstrate the method's utility through the total chemical synthesis of the post-translationally modified collagenous domain of the hormone adiponectin via DSL-deselenization at selenocystine (the oxidized form of selenocysteine) and the rapid preparation of two tick-derived thrombin-inhibiting proteins by DSL-deselenization at β-selenoaspartate and γ-selenoglutamate. This method should find widespread use for the rapid synthesis of proteins, including cases in which other peptide ligation methods cannot be used (or cannot be used efficiently), e.g., at sterically hindered or deactivated acyl donors. The method's speed and efficiency may render it useful in the generation of synthetic protein libraries. Each protein discussed can be synthesized within 15 working days from resin loading and can be readily produced by practitioners with master's-level experience in organic chemistry. Each synthesis using these protocols was performed independently by two labs (one academic and one industrial), which attained comparable yields of the protein products.