Method of refolding proteins using a dithiol compound a catalyst and a test to determine the potential use of compounds as protein refolding catalyst

摘要

The use of small molecular weight non-protein dithiol molecules having a pKa of less than about 8.0 and an Eo' of more than about -0.25 V for catalysing the activity of eukaryotic protein folding enzyme protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) and the prokaryotic enzyme thioredoxin. As the exemplary molecule N,N'-bis(2-mercaptoacetyl)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane (BMC), is capable of catalysing the proper formation of disulfide bonds, and the proper folding of proteins, both in vivo and in vitro. This permits a small organic molecule to be substituted for an enzymatic system in protein synthesis.