Pantetheine (PT)

Pantetheine is the cysteamine amide analogue of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5). The dimer of this compound, pantethine is more commonly known, and is considered to be a more potent form of vitamin B5 than pantothenic acid. Pantetheine is an intermediate in the production of coenzyme A by the body. In vivo carrier protein tagging has recently become an attractive target for the site-specific modification of fusion systems and new approaches to natural product proteomics. A detailed study of pantetheine analogues was performed in order to identify suitable partners for covalent protein labeling inside living cells. A rapid synthesis of pantothenamide analogues was developed and used to produce a panel which was evaluated for in vitro and in vivo protein labeling. Kinetic comparisons allowed the construction of a structure-activity relationship to pinpoint the linker, dye, and bioorthogonal reporter of choice for carrier protein labeling.