Minimization
of Synthetic Polymer Ligands for Specific
Recognition and Neutralization of a Toxic Peptide
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Abstract
Synthetic polymer ligands (PLs) that
recognize and neutralize specific
biomacromolecules have attracted attention as stable substitutes for
ligands such as antibodies and aptamers. PLs have been reported to
strongly interact with target proteins and can be prepared by optimizing
the combination and relative proportion of functional groups, by molecular
imprinting polymerization, and/or by affinity purification. However,
little has been reported about a strategy to prepare PLs capable of
specifically recognizing a peptide from a group of targets with similar
molecular weight and amino acid composition. In this study, we show
that such PLs can be prepared by minimization of molecular weight
and density of functional units. The resulting PLs recognize the target
toxin exclusively and with 100-fold stronger affinity from a mixture
of similar toxins. The target toxin is neutralized as a result. We
believe that the minimization approach will become a valuable tool
to prepare “plastic aptamers” with strong affinity for
specific target peptides