Inventors:
Stephen B. H. Kent - San Francisco CA
Tom W. Muir - New York NY
Philip E. Dawson - San Diego CA
Michael C. Fitzgerald - San Diego CA
Assignee:
The Scripps Research Institute - La Jolla CA
International Classification:
C07K 104
US Classification:
435 4, 435 71, 435 19, 435 23, 435 24, 435106, 435DIG 15, 530300, 530344, 530350
Abstract:
A protein signature analysis is obtained using a peptide ladder library. The molecular signature of a protein is defined to be that subsequence of amino acid positions within the protein which are essential for the protein to bind to a target molecule. The molecular signature may be determined by screening a peptide ladder library which corresponds to the protein against the target molecule. The peptide ladder library is a library of m peptides wherein each peptide has an amino acid sequence of length m corresponding to an amino acid sequence of the protein, with one exception, viz. peptide has a substitute amino acid at position and the substitute amino acid is attached by a labile bond to its neighboring amino acid. Screening the peptide ladder library against the target molecule results in a division of the original mixture into a positive (functional) pool and a negative (non-functional) pool. The pools are separated and subjected to cleavage to obtain cleavage products.