Patent ID: 7834145

Claim:
A hepatitis C virus NS3 protease substrate comprising the following structure: (B) n -X 1 -X 2 -X 3 -X 4 -X 5 -X 6 -X 7 -X 8 -X 9 -(Z) m (SEQ ID NO:1) wherein each B is an independently selected amino acid; X 1 is either aspartic acid or glutamic acid; X 2 is aspartic acid; X 3 is methionine; X 4 is glutamic acid; X 5 is glutamic acid; X 6 is 2-aminobutyric acid; X 7 is alanine; X 8 is serine; X 9 is either lysine, histidine, cysteine or arginine; each Z is an independently selected amino acid; n is 0 to 10; m is 0 to 10; provided that X 6 is joined to X 7 by an ester linkage; further provided that either: (a) at least one of a (B) n amino acid or X 1 is labeled with europium, and at least one of X 9 or an (Z) m amino acid is labeled with a quenching group; or (b) at least one of a (B) n amino acid or X 1 is labeled with a quenching group, and at least one of X 9 or an (Z) m amino acid is labeled with europium; and further provided that the amino terminus amino acid is optionally modified with an amino terminus protecting group and the carboxyl terminus amino acid is optionally modified with a carboxyl terminus protecting group.