Peptide oligomers from ultra-short peptides using sortase

•Sortase A catalyzed ultra-short peptide to form high yield (75-93%) oligomers.•Peptides with one aminoglycine form stable oligomers.•Cyclic oligomers are predominant when oligomers become large (>15aa).

Sortase A catalyzed ligation of ultra-short peptides leads to inter/intra-molecular transpeptidation to form either linear or cyclic oligomers dependent upon the peptide length. Cyclic peptides were the main products for peptides with more than 15aa. However, for ultra-short (<15aa) peptides, cyclic oligomers became predominant in prolonged reactions. Peptides with 1-3 aminoglycines were equally active but peptide oligomers from peptide containing more than one aminoglycine were prone to hydrolysis.

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