Monomeric B27 Lys Destripeptide Insulin: Semisynthesis, Characterization and Biological Activity

DING Jin-Guo, CUI Da-Fu, ZHANG You-Shang^*

( Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China )

Abstract In this paper, we report the semisynthesis of B27 Lys destripeptide insulin (B27 Lys DTrI), i.e. destetrapeptide insulin with an additional Lys residue at the C-terminus of B-chain. B27 Lys DTrI is also monomeric as shown by gel filtration. Its in vivo biological activity is 80% in comparison with that of native insulin. The addition of a Lys residue at the C-terminus of B-chain makes it possible to obtain monomeric B27 Lys DTrI from a precursor expressed in Saccharomyces cerevesiae by tryptic hydrolysis instead of the less efficient tryptic transpeptidation.

Key words B27 Lys destripeptide insulin; biological activity; monomeric insulin

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