TAT-Beclin Scrambled – TAT Conjugated Peptides

TAT-Beclin Scrambled is a scrambled version of the peptide derived from a region of the Beclin 1 protein. The original peptide interacts with a newly identified negative regulator of autophagy, GAPR-1 (also called GLIPR2) to act as a potent inducer of autophagy. Autophagy is an essential process that maintains cellular homeostasis and carries out lysosome-mediated degradation of unwanted proteins in the cytoplasm. It is often examined when looking at disease pathways because of this regulatory function. While the immune system initiates the removal of viruses and pathogens through the autophagic pathway, some viruses (such as HIV) are able to evade this process. The scrambled sequence in this peptide means it can be used as an effective negative control in such experiments because whilst it contains the same amino acids as Beclin-1 (and thus has the same molecular weight), it does not express the same properties as the original peptide. TAT (47-57) is present due to its properties as a cell penetrating cationic peptide (CPP). It derived from the N-terminus of the Tat protein, which is a trans-activator of the transcription protein present in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As a CPP, TAT (47-57) is able facilitate the delivery of the Beclin Scrambled protein across the plasma membrane. This peptide contains a GG linker between the C-terminus of TAT (47-57) and the N-terminus of Beclin Scrambled.