A two‐step strategy to visually identify molecularly imprinted polymers for tagged proteins

A practical and relatively simple method to identify molecularly imprinted polymers capable of binding proteins via the molecular tagging (epitope‐like) approach has been developed. In our two‐step method, we first challenge a previously obtained anti‐tag molecularly imprinted polymer with a small molecule including the said tag of choice (a biotin derivative as shown here or other) connected to a linker bound to a second biotin moiety. An avidin molecule partially decorated with fluorescent labels is then allowed to bind the available biotin derivative associated with the polymer matrix. At the end of this simple process, and after washing off all the low‐affinity binding molecules from the polymer matrix, only suitable molecularly imprinted polymers binding avidin through its previously acquired small molecule tag (or epitope‐like probe, in a general case) will remain fluorescent. For confirmation, we tested the selective performance of the anti‐biotin molecularly imprinted polymer binding it to biotinylated alkaline phosphatase. Residual chemical activity of the enzyme on the molecularly imprinted polymer solid support was observed. In all cases, the corresponding nonimprinted polymer controls were inactive.     

NMR studies on chiral intermediates in the total synthesis of (+)‐biotin from D‐mannose

The chemical structure and stereochemistry of 12 intermediates in the total synthesis of (+)‐biotin starting from D ‐mannose as chiral pool were completely assigned using one‐ and two‐dimensional NMR experiments, including 1D selective NOE, DEPT, COSY, HSQC and HMBC. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FT-IR Spectrophotometric Analysis of Ascorbic Acid and Biotin and their Pharmaceutical Formulations

Abstract

Fourier transform–infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry was used for the rapid, direct measurement of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and biotin (vitamin H) in different pharmaceutical products. Conventional KBr spectra were compared for the best determination of active substances in drug preparations. The Beer–Lambert law and chemometric approaches were applied in data processing.     

How to obtain statistically converged MM/GBSA results

The molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area (MM/GBSA) method has been investigated with the aim of achieving a statistical precision of 1 kJ/mol for the results. We studied the binding of seven biotin analogues to avidin, taking advantage of the fact that the protein is a tetramer with four independent binding sites, which should give the same estimated binding affinities. We show that it is not enough to use a single long simulation (10 ns), because the standard error of such a calculation underestimates the difference between the four binding sites. Instead, it is better to run several independent simulations and average the results. With such an approach, we obtain the same results for the four binding sites, and any desired precision can be obtained by running a proper number of simulations. We discuss how the simulations should be performed to optimize the use of computer time. The correlation time between the MM/GBSA energies is ～5 ps and an equilibration time of 100 ps is needed. For MM/GBSA, we recommend a sampling time of 20–200 ps for each separate simulation, depending on the protein. With 200 ps production time, 5–50 separate simulations are required to reach a statistical precision of 1 kJ/mol (800–8000 energy calculations or 1.5–15 ns total simulation time per ligand) for the seven avidin ligands. This is an order of magnitude more than what is normally used, but such a number of simulations is needed to obtain statistically valid results for the MM/GBSA method. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2010     

Paclitaxel-Loaded Magnetic Nanoparticles Based on Biotinylated N-Palmitoyl Chitosan: Synthesis,Characterization and Preliminary In Vitro Studies

A considerable interest in cancer research is represented by the development of magnetic nanoparticles based on biofunctionalized polymers for controlled-release systems of hydrophobic chemotherapeutic drugs targeted only to the tumor sites, without affecting normal cells. The objective of the paper is to present the synthesis and in vitro evaluation of the nanocomposites that include a magnetic core able to direct the systems to the target, a polymeric surface shell that provides stabilization and multi-functionality, a chemotherapeutic agent, Paclitaxel (PTX), and a biotin tumor recognition layer. To our best knowledge, there are no studies concerning development of magnetic nanoparticles obtained by partial oxidation, based on biotinylated N-palmitoyl chitosan loaded with PTX. The structure, external morphology, size distribution, colloidal and magnetic properties analyses confirmed the formation of well-defined crystalline magnetite conjugates, with broad distribution, relatively high saturation magnetization and irregular shape. Even if the ability of the nanoparticles to release the drug in 72 h was demonstrated, further complex in vitro and in vivo studies will be performed in order to validate the magnetic nanoparticles as PTX delivery system.     

Cyclodextrin-functionalised gold nanoparticles via streptavidin: a supramolecular approach

Biofunctionalised nanoparticles (NPs) have received increased attention both for their potential use as drug carriers and imaging agents and for their applications in medical diagnostics. Functionalised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) bring together their unique electronic and optical properties (including strong plasmon absorption bands and enhanced light scattering) with the specific capabilities of the functionalising biological molecule. Cyclodextrins (CDs) have been used to functionalise NPs with different approaches. CDs are able to protect from physical, chemical and enzymatic degradation drugs that are included in their cavity. In this study, we report on a new supramolecular approach for the fabrication of CD-functionalised AuNPs. Particularly, we synthesised streptavidin (SA)-coated NPs modified with biotinylated β- and γ-CD, in order to exploit the interaction with SA.     

基于生物素的荧光有机小分子及其应用

生物素是一种水溶性维生素,在人体中作为一种重要的羧酸酶辅酶起作用,近年来受到化学家和生物学家的广泛青睐。此外,其在各种生理和病理过程中表现出低毒性,可以被设计成具有靶向选择性的药物载体,能将抗癌药物有效地传递给肿瘤细胞。如今含生物素的小分子已发展成一类具有显著应用价值的生物功能分子。该类化合物具有合成简便、易功能化和特异性强等优点。本文综述了生物素及其衍生物在生物传感、药物释放和其他领域的研究进展,并对其发展趋势做出了展望。     

水稻抗稻瘟病、绿叶蝉和黄萎病基因BAC克隆的物理定位

植物单拷贝短序列的染色体原位杂交的检出率一直很低．水稻ＢＡＣ克隆作为一种大容量载体的基因组克隆因其独特的优点已被应用于水稻基因组研究．用生物素标记了两个水稻ＢＡＣ克隆，这两个克隆分别含与抗稻瘟病基因Ｐｉ－５（ｔ）、抗稻绿叶蝉基因Ｇｌｈ和抗稻黄萎病基因ＲＴＳＶ在连锁图中等位的ｃＤＮＡ标记ＲＺ５６５和ＲＺ２６２，并用其进行了水稻染色体原位杂交．它们分别被定位在水稻第四染色体长臂距着丝粒百分距离４０％和短臂１００％处．由于供杂交ＢＡＣ克隆含与３种抗病基因等位的标记，因此这些克隆的位置也就是供测抗病基因的位置．杂交检出率由迄今沿用的质粒克隆探针杂交的１０％以下提高到了４６．８％和５９．２％．检出染色体的号数与遗传图确定的染色体相符，证实了用ＢＡＣ克隆进行染色体原位杂交的优越性，为广泛利用水稻ＢＡＣ克隆进行单拷贝小片段基因的定位打下了基础．