Research Activities
Affibody engineered for cell-specific nucleic acid targeting
Cell-penetrating peptides comprising cloned epitopes that contribute to membrane transduction, DNA-binding and cell targeting functions are known to facilitate nucleic acid delivery. Using the ITASSER software, we predicted the 3-D structure of a cell-penetrating peptide, namely TAT-Mu and its derivative TAT-Mu-AF protein that harbors a targeting ligand, the HER2-binding affibody. Our model predicts TAT-Mu-AF fusion protein as primarily comprising a-helices, affibody in TAT-Mu-AF as a 3-helical domain that is distinct from the TAT-Mu domain. The linker region between TAT-Mu and the affibody is also predicted as a helix. The evaluation of secondary structure of the designed TAT-Mu-AF fusion protein by circular dichroism supported these predictions.
Researcher(s):
- Dr. Vijaya Gopal & Dr. K. Guru prasad