A New Colorimetric Platform for Protein Detection Based on Recognition‐Induced Cascade of Polymeric Nanoparticles Disassembly

Despite great progress, it is still of high interest to explore new homogeneous assays for simple, visual, and selective protein detection. Herein, one new colorimetric sensor has been developed for visual detection of protein by using polymeric micelles as a sensing scaffold and the molecular recognition between protein and the ligand on the surface of the polymeric micelles as the driving force to trigger the readout of the detection signal. The polymeric micelles formed via the self‐assembly of the amphiphilic block polymer biotin‐labeled poly(ethylene glycol)‐block‐poly(3‐acryl aminophenylboronic acid) are endowed with colorful feature by incorporation of alizarin red S (ARS) into the hydrophobic core. Based on the response to streptavidin recognition, these micelles are further disintegrated through the competitive binding of α‐cyclodextrin with boronic acid for disassociation of ARS, which achieves orange–yellow to pink–purple transition in 2 h. This work will open the way to develop one new mix‐and‐measure, visual, and homogeneous assay.     

A DNA Switch for Detecting Single Nucleotide Polymorphism within a Long DNA Sequence Under Denaturing Conditions

DNA detection is usually conducted under nondenaturing conditions to favor the formation of Watson–Crick base-paring interactions. However, although such a setting is excellent for distinguishing a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within short DNA sequences (15–25 nucleotides), it does not offer a good solution to SNP detection within much longer sequences. Here we report on a new detection method capable of detecting SNP in a DNA sequence containing 35–90 nucleotides. This is achieved through incorporating into the recognition DNA sequence a previously discovered DNA molecule that forms a stable G-quadruplex in the presence of 7 molar urea, a known condition for denaturing DNA structures. The systems are configured to produce both colorimetric and fluorescent signals upon target binding.     

Ring-Opened Hemiporphyrazines: Helical Molecules Exhibiting Circularly Polarized Luminescence

We designed and synthesized a new type of small helical molecule exhibiting intense circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) ( 1_2H ) by modifying a 20π-electron hemiporphyrazine with a large transition magnetic dipole moment. The hemiporphyrazine ring was opened and one additional pyridine unit was introduced, resulting in an overlap of two pyridine rings. X-ray structure analysis confirmed that 1_2H and its zinc complex ( 1_Zn ) adopt a helical geometry. A racemic mixture of 1_Zn was resolved into two enantiomers ((P)- and (M)- 1_Zn ), which exhibited CPL with a high luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_lum) value of ±2.1×10⁻². The origin of the large g_lum value was rationalized by means of DFT calculations. Helical structures could be formed in a diastereoselective manner by covalently attaching chiral units to the skeleton ( 1’_2H and 1’_Zn ). 1_Zn was found to possess chiral recognition ability for amines.     

Degeneracy of the Antithrombin Binding Sequence in Heparin: 2-O-Sulfated Iduronic Acid Can Replace the Critical Glucuronic Acid

Heparin binds to and activates antithrombin (AT) through a specific pentasaccharide sequence, in which a trisaccharide subsite, containing glucuronic acid (GlcA), has been considered as the initiator in the recognition of the polysaccharide by the protein. Recently it was suggested that sulfated iduronic acid (IdoA2S) could replace this “canonical” GlcA. Indeed, a heparin octasaccharidic sequence obtained by chemoenzymatic synthesis, in which GlcA is replaced with IdoA2S, has been found to similarly bind to and activate antithrombin. By using saturation-transfer-difference (STD) NMR, NOEs, transferred NOEs (tr-NOEs) NMR and molecular dynamics, we show that, upon binding to AT, this IdoA2S unit develops comparable interactions with AT as GlcA. Interestingly, two IdoA2S units, both present in a ¹C₄-²S₀ equilibrium in the unbound saccharide, shift to full ²S₀ and full ¹C₄ upon binding to antithrombin, providing the best illustration of the critical role of iduronic acid conformational flexibility in biological systems.     

Supramolecular Sensor for Astringent Procyanidin C1: Fluorescent Artificial Tongue for Wine Components

An artificial tongue that detects astringent components for a comprehensive evaluation of taste has not been established to date. Herein, we first propose fluorescent polythiophene (PT) derivatives ( S1 – S3 ) modified with 3-pyridinium boronic acid as supramolecular chemosensors for wine components including astringent procyanidin C1. After numerous attempts for the synthetic conditions, more than 95 mol % of the PT unit was modified with the pyridinium boronic acid moiety. To evaluate the PT derivatives as chemosensors of the artificial tongue, qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed with four types of wine components (i.e., sweet, sour, bitter, and astringent tastes) in combination with pattern recognition models. Notably, procyanidin C1 in the actual wine sample was successfully detected in a quantitative manner. In other words, we have established an authentic artificial tongue using PT based supramolecular chemosensors.     

Unravelling the Time Scale of Conformational Plasticity and Allostery in Glycan Recognition by Human Galectin-1

The interaction of human galectin-1 with a variety of oligosaccharides, from di-(N-acetyllactosamine) to tetra-saccharides (blood B type-II antigen) has been scrutinized by using a combined approach of different NMR experiments, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and isothermal titration calorimetry. Ligand- and receptor-based NMR experiments assisted by computational methods allowed proposing three-dimensional structures for the different complexes, which explained the lack of enthalpy gain when increasing the chemical complexity of the glycan. Interestingly, and independently of the glycan ligand, the entropy term does not oppose the binding event, a rather unusual feature for protein-sugar interactions. CLEANEX-PM and relaxation dispersion experiments revealed that sugar binding affected residues far from the binding site and described significant changes in the dynamics of the protein. In particular, motions in the microsecond-millisecond timescale in residues at the protein dimer interface were identified in the presence of high affinity ligands. The dynamic process was further explored by extensive MD simulations, which provided additional support for the existence of allostery in glycan recognition by human galectin-1.     

基于联合神经网络学习的中文电力计量命名实体识别

随着电力计量业务的不断扩展，迫切需要由业务信息、技术知识、行业标准及其内在联系所组成的电力计量知识图谱，为电网的决策和发展提供更为全面有效的支持。命名实体识别是构建知识图谱的基础。针对电力计量领域需要，结合中文分词技术特点，基于联合学习思想，提出了一种基于联合学习的中文电力计量命名实体识别技术。该技术联合CNN-BLSTM-CRF模型与整合词典知识的分词模型，使其共享实体类别和置信度；同时将2个模型的先后计算顺序改为并行计算，减少了识别误差累积。结果表明，在不需要人工构建特征的情况下，方法的正确率、召回率、F值等均显著优于以往方法。     

Selective Recognition of Amino Acids and Peptides by Small Supramolecular Receptors

To this day, the recognition and high affinity binding of biomolecules in water by synthetic receptors remains challenging, while the necessity for systems for their sensing, transport and modulation persists. This problematic is prevalent for the recognition of peptides, which not only have key roles in many biochemical pathways, as well as having pharmacological and biotechnological applications, but also frequently serve as models for the study of proteins. Taking inspiration in nature and on the interactions that occur between several receptors and peptide sequences, many researchers have developed and applied a variety of different synthetic receptors, as is the case of macrocyclic compounds, molecular imprinted polymers, organometallic cages, among others, to bind amino acids, small peptides and proteins. In this critical review, we present and discuss selected examples of synthetic receptors for amino acids and peptides, with a greater focus on supramolecular receptors, which show great promise for the selective recognition of these biomolecules in physiological conditions. We decided to focus preferentially on small synthetic receptors (leaving out of this review high molecular weight polymeric systems) for which more detailed and accurate molecular level information regarding the main structural and thermodynamic features of the receptor biomolecule assemblies is available.     

基于多特征算法选择的太赫兹时域光谱用于水稻种子掺假研究

该文提出了一种基于太赫兹时域光谱的水稻种子模式识别方法。实验以10种不同品牌混合掺假的水稻种子为样本,基于采集的样本太赫兹时域光谱数据,通过建立Relief、随机森林（RF）、支持向量机递归特征消除（SVM-RFE）和最大相关最小冗余（mRMR）模型分别对样本光谱波长进行特征选择,最后设计分类器对4种特征选择方法处理后的样本进行分类识别。结果表明,基于布谷鸟算法（CS）优化的极限学习机模型对经RF特征选择算法提取后的样本光谱数据具有最佳识别效果,其准确率可达100%,实验对于法庭科学领域内种子的掺假鉴定具有一定的借鉴意义。     

基于制备接枝型分子印迹膜构建农药电位型电化学传感器及其检测性能研究

基于分子设计,以氯甲基化聚砜(CMPSF)为基膜,阴离子单体对苯乙烯磺酸钠(SSS)为功能单体,N,N'-亚甲基双丙烯酰胺(MBA)为交联剂,在表面引发体系-NH2/S2O2-8的作用下,采用"接枝聚合与分子印迹同步进行"的分子表面印迹新技术,制备了接枝型农药抗蚜威分子印迹膜(MIM)。采用红外光谱(FITR)和光学显微镜(OM)对该分子印迹膜进行表征,通过等温结合实验与竞争吸附实验,考察了抗蚜威分子印迹膜的分子识别性能与机理。以该印迹膜作为敏感膜,构建了抗蚜威电位型传感器,并对其检测性能进行了考察。结果表明,所制备的接枝型印迹膜对模板抗蚜威分子具有特异的识别选择性和优良的结合亲和性,结合容量高达92μg/cm2,相对于分子结构与抗蚜威相似的阿特拉津,印迹膜对抗蚜威的选择性系数为4.537。在p H 4.0的水介质中,传感器膜电极的电位响应与抗蚜威浓度对数在1.0×10-6~1.0×10-3mol/L范围内呈良好的线性关系(r=0.999 9),其检出限为2.5×10-8mol/L;以抗蚜威分子印迹膜为敏感膜所构建的电位型传感器,其构建过程简捷,检测灵敏准确,电位响应快速(t10 s)。