Built with the right reporter for your readout: AMC and AFC for fluorescence, FRET donor-quencher pairs for continuous protease assays, and pNA for chromogenic detection.
Each substrate is purified by HPLC and confirmed by mass spectrometry, and ships with a COA, HPLC chromatogram, and MS report, so it performs consistently in kinetic and screening work.
Tell us the enzyme and the cleavage site, and we design and synthesize a custom substrate, including the reporter, the spacer, and any modification you need.
Peptide substrates are synthetic peptides cleaved or modified by a specific enzyme, used to measure that enzyme's activity. Researchers use them to run kinetics, screen inhibitors, set up high-throughput assays, and build diagnostic tests.
Both report enzyme activity, through different signals. Fluorogenic substrates release a fluorophore, such as AMC, when cleaved, giving a sensitive fluorescent readout. Chromogenic substrates release a colored group, such as pNA, that is read by absorbance. Fluorogenic assays are generally more sensitive; chromogenic ones need only a plate reader.
We make substrates for the main enzyme classes: serine, cysteine, aspartic, and metalloproteases, exopeptidases such as DPP-IV and aminopeptidases, and kinases. Examples include caspase, cathepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and MMP substrates.
Yes. Send the enzyme and its cleavage specificity, and we design the substrate around the scissile bond, choose the reporter and spacer, and synthesize it to your purity. We can also work from a published sequence.
Each substrate ships with a COA, an HPLC chromatogram, and an MS report. For assay work we can add details such as the reporter, the quencher pair, and solubility guidance on request.
For fluorescence, AMC, AFC, and FRET donor-quencher pairs such as EDANS and DABCYL. For chromogenic detection, pNA. We also add biotin or other tags when an assay needs capture or immobilization.
A peptide substrate is a short synthetic peptide that a specific enzyme recognizes and cleaves or modifies. By attaching a reporter group that changes signal when the enzyme acts, a substrate turns enzyme activity into something you can measure: a rise in fluorescence, a color change, or a shift you can read on a plate. Peptide substrates are core reagents in enzymology, drug screening, and diagnostics.
Peptidases, also called proteases, are enzymes that cleave the peptide bonds between amino acids. Their natural substrates are peptides and proteins, and each peptidase prefers a particular sequence around the bond it cuts. A synthetic peptide substrate copies that preferred sequence and adds a reporter, so the enzyme cleaves the substrate the way it would cleave its natural target, but with a readable signal.
The reporter defines the assay. Fluorogenic substrates carry a fluorophore, often AMC or AFC, that is held dark until the enzyme cleaves it free, giving a sensitive fluorescent signal. FRET substrates instead place a fluorophore and a quencher on either side of the cleavage site, such as an EDANS and DABCYL pair, so fluorescence rises as the peptide is cut, which suits continuous protease assays. Chromogenic substrates release a colored group such as pNA and are read by absorbance, which needs only a standard plate reader.
Substrate design follows the enzyme:
A good substrate starts from the enzyme's cleavage specificity, the residues it reads on each side of the bond it cuts. We build the recognition sequence, place the reporter so it gives a clean signal on cleavage, add a spacer where needed, and synthesize to the purity your assay requires. Tell us the enzyme and the readout, and we will design and make it. For the underlying chemistry, see custom peptide synthesis and peptide modification.
Substrate peptides are supplied for laboratory research use.
