Site-specific and trigger-activated modification of proteins by means of catalytic hemin/g-quadruplex DNAzyme nanostructures

Catalytic nanostructures have the potency to mimic enzymatic features. In this paper, we show that the complex between hemin and G-quadruplex DNA efficiently catalyzes the modification of proteins with N-methyl luminol derivatives. Final conversions are reached within 15–30 min, and LC-MS analysis of tryptic digests of the proteins shows that the reaction proceeds with chemoselectivity for electron-rich aromatic residues (Tyr ≫ Trp), and the site-specificity of the modification depends on the sequence and secondary structure folding of the G-quadruplex nanostructure. Furthermore, the modification can be applied on proteins with different biomedical functions, and the nanostructure can be designed to contain a regulatory element in order to regulate protein modification by an external stimulus.