Stimuli-responsive conformational transformation of antimicrobial peptides stapled with an azobenzene unit†
Abstract
The control of the conformational transformation of KLA peptides in response to external stimuli would be an important motif to design effective peptide therapeutic agents. In this report, we investigated the stimuli-responsive conformational transformation of KLA peptide ((KLAKLAK)2 sequence) with the azobenzene stapling units in the middle of the sequence and at both the terminal moieties. The KLA peptide with an azobenzene stapling unit in the middle of the sequence exhibited a stimuli-responsive conformational transformation triggered by both UV irradiation and reductive cleavage. The KLA peptide with azobenzene stapling at both the terminals exhibited stimulus-responsive conformational transformation triggered by reductive cleavage of the azobenzene unit, but not by UV irradiation.