I'm looking for ways to functionalise a material with a cell-adhesive peptide (relatively short chain - 6aa) and I was just wondering if peptides can withstand high temperatures (100-150 C) for 30 - 60 mins? I know that proteins will denature at T > 42 C but has anyone tried applying high temperatures on short peptide chains?
Thanks!
Short peptides (6 aa) usually lack a well-defined and stable secondary or tertiary structure. Even if your does have structure that is lost upon heating, the peptide will most likely refold correctly once it is cooled down, as long as there is nothing present to prevent it. The peptide bond is stable to heating to 100oC at or near neutral pH, but not at extremes of pH.
Hi Adam B Shapiro , thanks for the answer!
Just wondering, what kind of "things" can be present to prevent the refolding of the peptide? And would the chirality be changed upon heating?
The thermostability of proteins is well described in this paper. Have a look:
Sawle, L., & Ghosh, K. (2011). How do thermophilic proteins and proteomes withstand high temperature?. Biophysical journal, 101(1), 217–227. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2011.05.059
The things I referred to were denaturing agents, such as sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) or other ionic detergents, urea, and guanidine-HCl.
Amino acid racemization does occur, but I believe it is a slow process. Here is one paper on the subject.
Article The Impact of Processing on Amino Acid Racemization and Prot...
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