A chemical method for selective labelling of the key amino acid tryptophan
24 April 2024Nature, Published online: 24 April 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-00452-7
A broadly applicable method allows selective, rapid and efficient chemical modification of the side chain of tryptophan amino acids in proteins. This platform enables systematic, proteome-wide identification of tryptophan residues, which can form a bond (called cation–π interaction) with positively charged molecules. Such interactions are key in many biochemical processes, including protein-mediated phase separation.