Abstract
A combination of high‐performance affinity chromatography and antisense peptide based combinatorial peptide libraries was used to screen a potential inhibitor for SARS‐CoV. An aromatic‐amino acid‐rich region within the transmembrane domain at the C terminal of spike (S) protein identified as a membrane‐active region was chosen as the target sense peptide (SP) and immobilized as affinity ligand. Four antisense peptides were designed based on the degeneracy of genetic codes. One of them was screened as the lead peptide to construct the extended peptide libraries (EPL). The library screening was carried out at pH 5.5 so as to mimic the low‐pH milieu required by virus fusion. After five cycles of screening, a dodecapeptide KKKKYRNIRRPG (DP) was identified to possess the highest binding affinity to the immobilized sense peptide. The dissociation constant of the complex between the DP and the SP was 5.64 × 10^−7^ M in a physiological condition. The recognition between the DP and recombinant SARS S protein was demonstrated by ELISA assay to be in a saturable way. The competitive inhibition of the sense peptide in the competitive ELISA reveals the affinity binding between the DP and SARS S protein is specific and directed towards the target SP of the S protein. The results indicate this preferred polypeptide can be used as a lead compound of potent inhibitor of SARS‐CoV. The mechanism study suggests the specific recognition between the DP and the target peptide was due to sequence‐dependent and multi‐modal affinity interaction. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.