Femtomolar Zn(II) affinity of minimal zinc hook peptides – a promising small tag for protein engineering

The minimal zinc hook peptide of Rad50 and its alanine mutants form highly stable Zn(II) complexes. These peptides were successfully used as a small, efficient tag for reversible Zn(II)-mediated protein homodimerization. The high stability, its biological consequences and potential applications in protein engineering are discussed.