The Art of Bioconjugation: Functionalization of VNPs - Viral Nanoparticles: Tools for Materials Science and Biomedicine - page 76

Figure 4.1 Overview of the 20 common amino acids. Amino acids used as targets

for bioconjugation chemistry on VNPs are highlighted in yellow boxes. Gly, glycine;
Ala, alanine; Val, valine; Leu, leucine; Met, methionine; Ile, isoleucine; Ser, serine;
Thr, threonine; Cys, Cysteine; Pro, proline; Asn, asparagine; Gln, glutamine; Phe,
phenylalanine; Tyr, tyrosine; Trp, tryptophan; Lys, lysine; Arg, arginine; His, histidine;
Asp, aspartic acid; Glu, gutamic acid.

For bioconjugation, the most commonly utilized amino acids are Lys
(amine-functional group), Asp and Glu (carboxylate-functional group), Cys
(thiol-functional group), and Tyr (hydroxyl-functional group), all of which
have been utilized as targets for modification of VNPs. Strategies targeting
these amino acids will be discussed in this chapter. Other amino acids that
can be utilized for bioconjugation chemistries are Arg, His, Met, and Trp; the
reader is referred to the following textbooks for information on coupling
techniques utilizing these amino acids: Bioconjugate Techniques (Hermanson,

1996) and Bioconjugation (Aslam & Dent, 1999).