Selection and analytical applications of aptamers binding microbial pathogens

DNA aptamers specifically recognizing microbial cells and viruses have a range of analytical and therapeutic applications. This article describes recent advances in the development of aptamers targeting specific pathogens (e.g., live bacteria, whole viral particles, and virally-infected mammalian cells). Specific aptamers against pathogens have been used as affinity reagents to develop sandwich assays, to label and to image cells, to bind with cells for flow-cytometry analysis, and to act as probes for development of whole-cell biosensors. Future applications of aptamers to pathogens will benefit from recent advances in improved selection and new aptamers containing modified nucleotides, particularly slow off-rate modified aptamers (SOMAmers).     

Novel biomarkers of protein oxidation sites and degrees using horse cytochrome c as the target by mass spectrometry

Biomarkers held both incredible application and significant challenge in probing the oxidation mechanisms of proteins under oxidative stress. Here, mass spectrometry (MS) coupled with liquid chromatography (LC) was applied to establish a new pipeline to probe the oxidation sites and degrees of horse cytochrome c (HCC) with its oxidative products serving as the biomarkers. Samples of native and UV/H(2)O(2) oxidized HCCs were digested by trypsin and subjected to biomarker discovery using LC/MS and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Experiment results proved that the main oxidation sites were located at Cys(14), Cys(17), Met(65) and Met(80) residues in peptides C(14)AQC(heme)HTVEK(22), C(14)AQCHTVEK(22), E(60)ETLMEYLENPKK(73), M(80)IFAGIK(86) and M(80)IFAGIKK(87). Quantitative analysis on the oxidized peptides showed the oxidation degrees of target sites had positive correlations with extended oxidation dose and controlled by residues types and their accessibility to solvent molecules. Being able to provide plentiful information for the oxidation sites and oxidation degrees, the identified oxidized products were feasibility biomarkers for HCC oxidation, compared with the conventional protein carbonyl assay.     

Effects of ultrasound-assisted thawing on lamb meat quality and oxidative stability during refrigerated storage using non-targeted metabolomics

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes of ultrasound-assisted thawing on lamb meat quality and differential metabolite profiles during refrigerated storage. Compared with flow water thawing (FW), pH, a*, C*, and sulfhydryl content of lamb were significantly increased, while L*, drip loss and cooking loss were significantly decreased after ultrasound-assisted thawing (UT). On day 1 (UT1 and FW1) and day 7 (UT7 and FW7) in the UT and FW groups, principal component analysis explained 42.22% and 39.25% of the total variance. In this study, 44 (UT1 and FW1) and 47 (UT7 and FW7) differentially expressed metabolites were identified, including amino acids, carbohydrates and their conjugates, nucleic acids, carbonyl compounds and others. The results of this study provide data to clarify the differences between UT and FW, and lay a foundation for the application of ultrasound-assisted thawing in the meat industry.     

Computational and experimental evidence of through-space NMR spectroscopic J coupling of hydrogen atoms

J coupling in NMR spectroscopy is conventionally associated with covalent bonds. A noncovalent contribution often called through-space coupling (TSC) has been observed for heavy atoms. In this study, the TSC was detected and analyzed for the more common (1)H-(1)H coupling as well. In synthesized model molecules the hydrogen positions could be well controlled. For several coupling constants the through-space mechanism was even found to be the predominant factor. The nature and magnitude of the phenomenon were also analyzed by density functional computations. Calculated carbon- and hydrogen-coupling maps and perturbed electronic densities suggest that the aromatic system strongly participates in the noncovalent contribution. Unlike covalent coupling, which is usually governed by the Fermi contact, TSC is dominated by the diamagnetic term comprising interactions of nuclei with the electron orbital angular momentum. The computations further revealed a strong distance and conformational dependence of TSC. This suggests that the through-space coupling can be explored in molecular structural studies in the same way as the covalent one.     

“Click chemistry” preparation of WCX packings for protein separation

Click chemistry was applied to immobilize three kinds of alkyne-carboxylic acids onto azide-modified silica gel to prepare three novel stationary phases for weak cation exchange chromatography(WCX).The developed protocol combines the benefits of operational simplicity,exceptionally mild conditions and high surface loadings.Six kinds of standard proteins were separated completely on the novel packings.Compared with commercial WCX columns,the three kinds of novel WCX packings prepared by click chemistry approach have better resolution and selectivity.Lysozyme was purified successfully from egg white with the novel WCX column by one step.The purity was more than 97%and a high specific activity was achieved to be 81,435 U/mg.The results illustrate the potential of click chemistry for preparation of stationary phase for IEC.     

荧光素-曙红Y能量转移荧光猝灭法测定微量白蛋白研究

在λex/λem=405/547 nm,于缓冲溶液和表面活性剂存在的情况下,荧光素和曙红Y能够发生有效能量转移,而牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的加入使得曙红Y荧光猝灭,该体系可用于微量蛋白质的测定。系统探讨了荧光素-曙红Y能量转移体系发生荧光猝灭的条件,最佳条件为:2.0 mL pH=3.8的B-R缓冲溶液,0.4 mL 0.05%曲拉通X-100,1.5 mL 1.0×10-4mol/L的荧光素水溶液,2.0 mL 1.0×10-4mol/L的曙红Y水溶液,最佳实验时间为溶液配制完成静置15 min后60 min内,最佳加入顺序为pH=3.8缓冲溶液+荧光素+曙红Y+曲拉通+蛋白质标准溶液或样品。在优化的实验条件下,蛋白质含量在0～2.0μg/mL范围内与荧光猝灭强度呈良好的线性关系。检出限为6.6 ng/mL;测定样品的相对标准偏差(RSD)在±5%以内;样品加标回收率为90.4%～95.3%。该法可用于人血清、牛奶中蛋白质含量的测定。