Pepstatin A

Pepstatin A is a naturally occurring chemotactic peptide and inhibitor of aspartic proteases that was initially isolated from culture filtrates of various Actinomycetes species, with the initial name simply of “pepstatin”. This name was later modified to “pepstatin A” to distinguish the original pepstatin from later derivatives. Pepstatin A notably contains the unusual amino acid 4-amino-hydroxy-6-methylheptanoic acid (AHMHA), which is known also as statine. The amino acid sequence of pepstatin A is N-Isovaleryl-L-Valyl-L-Valyl-AHMHA-L-Alanyl-AHMHA.

Can be used in conjunction with E64-d and Leupeptin A to inhibit the degradation of autophagic cargo inside autophagosomes. For this application, the working concentration is typically between 1-10 μM.

Pepstatin A is an inhibitor of acid proteases (aspartyl peptidases). It forms a 1:1 complex with proteases such as pepsin, renin, cathepsin D, bovine chymosin, and protease B (Aspergillus niger). The inhibitor is highly selective and does not inhibit thiol proteases, neutral proteases, or serine proteases. Solubilized γ-secretase and retroviral protease are also inhibited by Pepstatin A. It has been used to characterize proteases from several sources.

Pepstatin can be dissolved at 1 mg/ml in 10% (v/v) acetic acid in methanol (9:1 methanol:acetic acid). The inclusion of acetic acid may be necessary to dissolve this peptide in methanol or DMSO. It has been dissolved at 1 to 2 mg/ml in ethanol, but heat may be required for complete dissolution. Solutions of Pepstatin A can be heated as high as 60 °C without any decomposition of the peptide.
Stock solutions at 1 mg/ml are stable at least a week at 4 °C. A 1 mM solution in methanol or DMSO is stable for months at -20 °C. If solutions become darker yellow, the reagent is hydrolyzing.
A working concentration of 1 μM is stable for at least one day at room temperature.