Analytical Sciences

Design of Peptide that Recognizes Double-Stranded DNA

Takashi FUKUMORI,*^,** Yasutaka MORITA,* Eiichi TAMIYA,* and Kenji YOKOYAMA*^,** 

*School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Tatsunokuchi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
**Laboratory of Advanced Bioelectronics, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST Tsukuba Central 4, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan

A novel molecular tool for double-stranded (ds) DNA detection using synthetic peptide is described. The peptide was designed based on the DNA binding domain of the lambdaphage CRO repressor (CRO). The designed peptides contain helixturn-helix (HTH), which is DNA binding motif. A cyclic peptide and a mutant peptide based on CRO were also designed, and the resulting affinity for dsDNA was increased. Furthermore, native amino acids of the peptide were replaced with arginine to increase the affinity for dsDNA. The affinity of these peptides for DNA binding was assessed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique.

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