Polymers for peptide/protein arrays

Abstract

Peptide and protein arrays have gained increasing attention due to their potential application in many areas of research, clinical diagnosis, and pharmacy. Atypical array consists of a support containing immobilized peptides or proteins positioned in an addressable format. The greatest advantage of the arrays is the possibility for miniaturization, which relies on dividing the surface into miniature spots, thus allowing for hundreds/thousands of analyses to be simultaneously performed using minimal amounts of a precious biological material. The quality of assays with the use of peptide and protein arrays depends on the surface properties, e.g., hydrophilicity, homogeneity, density of functional groups, surface morphology, etc. In recent years, itwas shown that the quality of the assays might be improved by introducing polymers acting as spacers between the peptide and the solid support. This approach causes changes in the surface properties, e.g., it reduces the undesirable non-specific adsorption of biomolecules, increases the density of functional groups, or can improve the biological activity of biomolecules attached to the surface. In this review, various types of polymers that are used for peptide and protein arrays and their impact on the assay quality are discussed.