CONFORMATIONAL STUDIES ON BOMBESIN ANTAGONISTS - CD AND NMR CHARACTERIZATION OF THR6, LEU13-PSI-(CH2NH) MET14 BOMBESIN (6-14)

Abstract The conformational flexibility of the [Thr6, Leu13ψ(CH2NH) Met14]bombesin (6-14) nonapeptide has been studied by CD and one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) nmr techniques. The CD and nmr parameters in different solvents and in a micellar environment (SDS) are compared with the data collected for the parent bombesin (BN) and [D–Phe12, Leu14]BN. A preliminary investigation on spantide is also reported. In particular, the results obtained from CD measurements indicate that there is a shift from random coil structures, in aqueous solutions, toward folded structures in apolar media (2,2,2-trifluoroethanol) and in a membrane–mimetic environment (40 mM SDS) for all three peptides, namely BN, [D-Phe12, Leu14]BN, and [Thr6, Leu13ψ(CH2NH)Met14]BN (6-14). Spantide, which also possesses some inhibitory activity against BN but very little sequence similarity, even in water, shows an ordered conformation. Nuclear magnetic resonance parameters such as backbone NH-CH coupling constant values, amidic temperature coefficients, and the presence of only sequential nuclear Overhauser effects have not provided, so far, any clear evidence for a preferential ordered structure in the peptides studied, and this may be due to rapid exchange among different conformers in the nmr time scale.