A microfluidic biosensor for rapid detection of Salmonella typhimurium based on magnetic separation,enzymatic catalysis and electrochemical impedance analysis

Rapid screening of foodborne pathogens is of great significance to ensure food safety.A microfluidic biosensor based on immunomagnetic separation,enzyme catalysis and electrochemical impedance analysis was developed for rapid and sensitive detection of S.typhimurium.First,the bacterial sample,the magnetic nanoparticles （MNPs） modified with capture antibodies,and the enzymatic probes modified with detection antibodies and glucose oxidase （GOx） were simultaneously injected into the microfluidic ch...     

Fully automated sample treatment method for high throughput proteome analysis

The bottom-up strategy for proteome analysis typically employs a multistep sample preparation workflow that suffers from being time-consuming and sample loss or contamination caused by the off-line manual operation.Herein,we developed a hollow fibre membrane(HFM)-aided fully automated sample treatment(FAST)method.Due to the confinement effects of HFMs and the immobilized enzymatic reactor,the proteome samples could be denatured,reduced,desalted and digested within 8–20 min via the one-stop service.This method also showed superiority in trace sample analysis.In one and half hours,we could identify about 1,600 protein groups for 500 HeLa cells as the starting materials,1.5–8 times more than those obtained by previously reported methods.Through the on-line combination of FAST with nano-liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry(nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS),we further established a fully integrated platform for label-free quantification of proteome with high reproducibility and precision.Collectively,FAST presented here represents a major advance in the high throughput sample treatment and quantitative analysis of proteomes.     

Combination of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry with immobilized enzyme microreactor for peptide mapping

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) has been combined with immobilized enzyme microreactor for the rapid, sensitive, and accurate tryptic mapping of protein and polypeptides. The technique utilizes the trypsin microreactor by immobilized enzyme on the glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-modified cellulose membrane. The membrane micro-reactor was used for the tryptic mapping of cytochrome C and the results were compared with those obtained by using free trypsin. A significant increase in the overall sensitivity of the process was observed using the membrane microreactor, as well as the elimination of background signals due to the autolysis of the trypsin. Further, membrane microreactor digestions were found to be rapid and convenient.     

In vitro digestibility of soybean β-conglycinin hydrolysates

The in vitro digestibility of alcalase enzymatic hydrolysates ofβ-conglycinin was studied.The results showed that the zeta potentials ofβ-conglycinin hydrolysates decreased and their electronegativity increased when digested with pepsin and trypsin.Furthermore,the content of peptides with molecular weight from 10 kDa to 20 kDa remained stable,while those with higher molecular weight(>20 kDa) decreased,and those with lower molecular weight(<10 kDa) increased.The proportion of highly hydrophobic peptides decreased in the process of the in vitro digestion,but no significant change in the surface hydropliobicity indices of digestion products was observed(P<0.05).These results indicate that theβ-congiycinin hydrolysates were degraded through in vitro digestion,but the degree of degradation was relatively low.Peptides with molecular weight from 10 kDa to 20 kDa in theβ-conglycinin hydrolysates resisted the digestion by pepsin and trypsin and they remained stable during the in vitro digestion processes.     

Silica-supported Macroporous Chitosan Bead for Affinity Purification of Trypsin Inhibitor

Macroporous cross-linking chitosan layer coated on silica gel （CTS-SiO2） was prepared by phase inversion and polyethylene glycol （PEG）molecular imprinting methods. Formation of macroporous surtace was investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and BET analysis.The prepared bead was activated by reacting with 1,2-ethylene digiycidyl ether for introducing epoxy groups, and trypsin could be efficiently immobilized on the bead as a biospecific ligand.The bead bearing trypsin was employed to purify trypsin inhibitor （TIs） from egg white as affinity adsorbent.     

DC dielectrophoresis separation of marine algae and particles in a microfluidic chip

This paper reports a microfluidic method of continuous separation of marine algae and particles by DC dielectrophoresis. The locally non-uniform electric field is generated by an insulating PDMS triangle hurdle fabricated within a PDMS microchannel. Both the particles and algae are subject to negative DEP forces at the hurdle where the gradient of local electric-field strength is the strongest. The DEP force acting on the particle or the algae depends on particles’ or algae’s volume, shape and dielectric properties. Thus the moving particles and algae will be repelled to different streamlines when passing the hurdle. In this way, combined with the electroosmotic flow, continuous separation of algae of two different sizes, and continuous separation of polystyrene particles and algae with similar volume but different shape were achieved. This first demonstration of DC DEP separation of polystyrene particles and algae with similar sizes illustrates the great influence of dielectric properties on particle separation and potentials for sample pretreatment.     

A rapid protein sample preparation method based on organic-aqueous microwave irradiation technique

Fast and efficient sample preparation methods are a prerequisite for protein identification in bottom-up proteomics. Here, an innovative microwave irradiation sample preparation method was developed based on an optimized organic-aqueous solvent system for protein identification. Specifically, protein solutions containing high-concentration acetonitrile were subjected to 5 min microwave irradiation. After cooling down, trypsin was added and the digestion was performed with 30 s microwave irradiation, and the resulting peptides were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS). A shortened processing time of only 5.5 min is needed with this method(more than 12 h is necessary in the traditional overnight protein sample preparation). Moreover, due to the absence of urea and other chaotropic reagents, the digests can be readily identified by MALDI-TOF MS. When an assessment of this method was performed by digesting a model protein BSA, 69% ± 3% sequence coverage corresponding to 47 ± 3 peptides was obtained, which shows better protein identification than that from the standard overnight protein sample preparation method(51% ± 2% sequence coverage and 23 ± 1 peptides). Another model protein α-casein was used for the analysis of protein phosphorylation with the newly developed method that yielded 4 phosphopeptides with 8 phosphorylation sites, whereas 3 phosphopeptides with 2 phosphorylation sites were obtained from the traditional overnight approach. Moreover, the organic-aqueous microwave irradiation method provides effective digestion for proteins down to fmol.     

INFLUENCE OF SURFACE-MODIFICATION FOR CALCIUM CARBONATE ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE FILLERS AND POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE

The surface of calcium carbonate(CaCO_3)particles was modified with stearic acid(SA)and the chemical structures of the product were characterized by FT-IR analysis.The interaction between polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)and CaCO_3 fillers with different surface character was investigated by means of dynamic rheological and bound rubber tests for uncured compounds and mechanical properties measurements for the corresponding vulcanites.The results of dynamic tests indicate that with the increase of SA mass fract...     

Development and characterization of a microfluidic glucose sensing system based on an enzymatic microreactor and chemiluminescence detection

Chemiluminescence detection was developed as an alternative to amperometric detection for glucose analysis in a portable, microfluidics-based continuous glucose monitoring system. Amperometric detection allows easy determination of hydrogen peroxide, a product of the glucose oxidase-catalyzed reaction of glucose with oxygen, by oxidation at a microelectrode. However, (micro)electrodes in direct contact with physiological sample are subject to electrode fouling, which leads to signal drift, decreased reproducibility and shortened detector lifetimes. Moreover, there are a few species present in the body (e.g. ascorbic acid, uric acid) which can undergo oxidation at the same applied potential as hydrogen peroxide. These species can thus interfere with the glucose measurement, reducing detection specificity. The rationale for exploring chemiluminescence as opposed to amperometric detection is thus to attempt to improve the lifetime and reproducibility of glucose analysis for monitoring purposes, while reducing interference caused by other chemicals in the body. The study reported here represents a first step in this direction, namely the realization of a microfluidic device with integrated silicon photodiode for chemiluminescence detection of glucose. This microflow device uses a chaotic mixing approach to perform enzymatic conversion of glucose, followed by reaction of the hydrogen peroxide produced with luminol to produce light at 425 nm. The chemiluminescence reaction is catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase in the presence of iodophenol. The performance of the fabricated chip was characterized to establish optimal reaction conditions with respect to sample and reagent flow rates, pH, and concentrations. A linear calibration curve was obtained for current response as a function of glucose concentration in the clinically relevant range between 2 and 10 mM, with a sensitivity of 39 pA/mM (R = 0.9963, one device, n = 3) and a limit of detection of 230 μM (S/N = 3).     

STUDY ON THE IMMOBILIZATION OF PAPAIN WITH A MACROPOROUS BEAD CARRIER OF COPOLYMER CONTAINING MONOMER UNITS OF NAMINOETHYL ACRYLAMIDE AND VINYL ALCOHOI

A kind of macroporous bead carrier of copolymer containing monomer units of N-aminoethyl acrylamide and vinylalcohol was synthesized, i.e. the MR-AA carrier. Papain was immobilized on the carrier using glutaraldehyde as the couplingagent. The enzymatic activity of the immobilized papain was compared with free papain using casein as a substrate, and theeffects of glutaraldehyde concentration, pH, temperature, time and papain amount added on the activity recovery were alsoinvestigated. The results show that the MR-AA carrier contains reactive primary amine groups, hydrophilic amido links andhydroxyl groups, as well as macroporous structures based on its matrix (MR-AV matrix), furthermore, the activity recoveryof papain in the immobilization could reach 48%/～58%. In comparison with free papain, the resulting immobilized papainexhibits a remarkable thermostability and better reusability.     

Tandem mass spectrometry of poly(ethylene imine)s by electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)

In this contribution, linear poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) polymers, which are of importance in gene delivery, are investigated in detail by using electrospray ionization‐quadrupole‐time of flight (ESI‐Q‐TOF) and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time of flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). The analyzed PEIs with different end groups were synthesized using the polymerization of substituted 2‐oxazoline via a living cationic ring‐opening polymerization (CROP) and a subsequent hydrolysis under acidic conditions. The main goal of this study was to identify linear PEI polymers in a detailed way to gain information about their fragmentation pathways. For this purpose, a detailed characterization of three different linear PEIs was performed by using ESI‐Q‐TOF and MALDI‐TOF MS in combination with collision‐induced dissociation (CID) experiments. In ESI‐MS as well as MALDI‐MS analysis, the obtained spectra of PEIs resulted in fitting mass distributions for the investigated PEIs. In the tandem MS analysis, a 1,2‐hydride shift with a charge‐remote rearrangement via a four‐membered cyclic transition state, as well as charge‐induced fragmentation reactions, was proposed as the main fragmentation mechanisms according to the obtained fragmentation products from the protonated parent peaks. In addition, heterolytic and homolytic cleavages were proposed as alternative fragmentation pathways. Moreover, a 1,4‐hydrogen elimination was proposed to explain different fragmentation products obtained from the sodiated parent peaks. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microfluidic enzymatic-reactors for peptide mapping: strategy, characterization, and performance

The design and characterization of two kinds of poly(dimethylsiloxane)(PDMS) microfluidic enzymatic-reactors along with their analytical utility coupled to MALDI TOF and ESI MS were reported. Microfluidic devices integrated with microchannel and stainless steel tubing (SST) was fabricated using a PDMS casting technique, and was used for the preparation of the enzymatic-reactor. The chemical modification was performed by introducing carboxyl groups to PDMS surface based on ultraviolet graft polymerization of acrylic acid. The covalent and physical immobilization of trypsin was carried out with the use of the activation reagents 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl)carbodiimide(EDC)/N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and a coupling reagent poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)(PDDA), respectively. The properties and success of processes of trypsin immobilization were investigated by measuring contact angle, infrared absorption by attenuated total reflection spectra, AFM imaging and electropherograms. An innovative feature of the microfluidic enzymatic-reactors is the feasibility of performing on-line protein analysis by embedded SST electrode and replaceable tip. The lab-made devices provide an excellent extent of digestion of several model proteins even at the fast flow rate of 3.5 microL min(-1) for the EDC/NHS-made device and 0.8 microL min(-1) for the PDDA-made device, which afford very short residence times of 5 s and 20 s, respectively. In addition, the lab-made devices are less susceptive to memory effect and can be used for at least 50 runs in one week without noticeable loss of activity. Moreover, the degraded PDDA-made device can be regenerated by simple treatment of a HCl solution. These features are the most required for microfluidic devices used for protein analysis.     

蛋白质分子量测定过程中的酸效应

在基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱（MALDI-TOF-MS）和电喷雾质谱（ESI-MS）测定蛋白质分子分子量的过程中,适当提高样品的酸度,可提高分析测试的灵敏度。在选定最佳样品分子浓度的基础上,通过适当加入三氟乙酸（TFA）来调整测试样品的酸度,准确测定了标准蛋白质-溶菌酶（lysozyme）的分子量,并且对蛋白质分子在“软电离”质谱中,受酸效应的影响进行了初步探讨。     

Application of high‐resolution ESI and MALDI mass spectrometry to metabolite profiling of small interfering RNA duplex

We investigated the application of a high‐resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source and a matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectrometer to the metabolite profiling of a model small interfering RNA (siRNA) duplex TSR#34 and compared their functions and capabilities. TSR#34 duplex was incubated in human serum in vitro, and the duplex and its metabolites were then purified by ion exchange chromatography in order to remove the biological matrices. The fraction containing the siRNA duplex and its metabolites was collected and desalted and then subjected to high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with a reversed phase column. The siRNA and its metabolites were separated into single strands by elevated chromatographic temperature and analyzed using the ESI‐Orbitrap or the MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometer. Using this method, the 5' and/or 3' truncated metabolites of each strand were detected in the human serum samples. The ESI‐Orbitrap mass spectrometer enabled differentiation between two possible RNA‐based sequences, a monoisotopic molecular mass difference which was less than 2 Da, with an intrinsic mass resolving power. In‐source decay (ISD) analysis using a MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometer allowed the sequencing of the RNA metabolite with characteristic fragment ions, using 2,4‐dihydroxyacetophenone (2,4‐DHAP) as a matrix. The ESI‐Orbitrap mass spectrometer provided the highest mass accuracy and the benefit of on‐line coupling with HPLC for metabolite profiling. Meanwhile, the MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometer, in combination with 2,4‐DHAP, has the potential for the sequencing of RNA by ISD analysis. The combined use of these methods will be beneficial to characterize the metabolites of therapeutic siRNA compounds. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparative studies of poly(dimethyl siloxanes) using automated GPC-MALDI-TOF MS and on-line GPC-ESI-TOF MS

In this study we compare on-line gel permeation chromatography (GPC) electrospray ionization (ESI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) to automated GPC matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) TOF MS for poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) analysis. Average mass values for a hydroxyl-terminated PDMS (OH-PDMS) sample were obtained and compared to traditional GPC that was calibrated with narrow polystyrene standards, by direct ESI and MALDI MS analysis, by a summation of mass spectra of all GPC fractions, and also by the recalibration method determined by both mass spectrometric methods. Quantitatively, the difference noted here between these hyphenated techniques is that GPC-ESI-TOF MS effectively reports the low-mass oligomers and underestimates the high-mass oligomers, while GPC-MALDI-TOF MS effectively reports the high-mass oligomers and underestimates the low-mass oligomers. In the GPC-ESI-TOF MS experiments, ion current suppression was observed in the high molecular weight region. The suppression effect was confirmed by repeatable sample runs and by injecting different PDMS samples. Higher chromatographic resolution was observed for GPC-ESI-TOF MS compared to GPC-MALDI-TOF MS. In fact, truly mono-disperse oligomers were observed in the low molecular weight range from GPC-ESI MS experiments.     

Multitechnique mass-spectrometric approach for the detection of bovine glutathione peroxidase selenoprotein: focus on the selenopeptide

Glutathione peroxidase (isolated from bovine erythrocytes) and its behaviour during alkylation and enzymatic digestion were studied by various hyphenated techniques: gel electrophoresis–laser ablation (LA) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometry (MS), size-exclusion liquid chromatography–ICP MS, capillary high-performance liquid chromatography (capHPLC)–ICP MS, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) MS, electrospray MS, and nanoHPLC–electrospray ionization (ESI) MS/MS. ESI TOF MS and MALDI TOF MS allowed the determination of the molecular mass but could not confirm the presence of selenium in the protein. The purity of the protein with respect to selenium species could be evaluated by LA ICP MS and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC)–ICP MS under denaturating and nondenaturating conditions, respectively. SEC–ICP MS and capHPLC–ICP MS turned out to be valuable techniques to study the enzymolysis efficiency, miscleavage and artefact formation during derivatization and tryptic digestion. For the first time the parallel ICP MS and ESI MS/MS data are reported for the selenocysteine-containing peptide extracted from the gel; capHPLC–ICP MS allowed the sensitive detection of the selenopeptide regardless of the matrix and nanoHPLC–electrospray made possible its identification. Figure Eye catching image Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Phosphorylated serine and threonine residues promote site‐specific fragmentation of singly charged,arginine‐containing peptide ions

In order to investigate gas‐phase fragmentation reactions of phosphorylated peptide ions, matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass (MS/MS) spectra were recorded from synthetic phosphopeptides and from phosphopeptides isolated from natural sources. MALDI‐TOF/TOF (TOF: time‐of‐flight) spectra of synthetic arginine‐containing phosphopeptides revealed a significant increase of y ions resulting from bond cleavages on the C‐terminal side of phosphothreonine or phosphoserine. The same effect was found in ESI‐MS/MS spectra recorded from the singly charged but not from the doubly charged ions of these phosphopeptides. ESI‐MS/MS spectra of doubly charged phosphopeptides containing two arginine residues support the following general fragmentation rule: Increased amide bond cleavage on the C‐terminal side of phosphorylated serines or threonines mainly occurs in peptide ions which do not contain mobile protons. In MALDI‐TOF/TOF spectra of phosphopeptides displaying N‐terminal fragment ions, abundant b–H₃PO₄ ions resulting from the enhanced dissociation of the pSer/pThr–X bond were detected (X denotes amino acids). Cleavages at phosphoamino acids were found to be particularly predominant in spectra of phosphopeptides containing pSer/pThr–Pro bonds. A quantitative evaluation of a larger set of MALDI‐TOF/TOF spectra recorded from phosphopeptides indicated that phosphoserine residues in arginine‐containing peptides increase the signal intensities of the respective y ions by almost a factor of 3. A less pronounced cleavage‐enhancing effect was observed in some lysine‐containing phosphopeptides without arginine. The proposed peptide fragmentation pathways involve a nucleophilic attack by phosphate oxygen on the carbon center of the peptide backbone amide, which eventually leads to cleavage of the amide bond. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of different poly(2‐oxazoline) block copolymers by MALDI‐TOF MS/MS and ESI‐Q‐TOF MS/MS

A complete library of poly(2‐oxazoline) block copolymers was synthesized via cationic ring opening polymerization for the characterization by two different soft ionization techniques, namely matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF MS) and electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (ESI‐Q‐TOF MS). In addition, a detailed characterization was performed by tandem MS to gain more structural information about the block copolymer composition and its fragmentation behavior. The fragmentation of the poly(2‐oxazoline) block copolymers revealed the desired polymer structure and possible side reactions, which could be explained by different mechanisms, like 1,4‐ethylene or hydrogen elimination and the McLafferty +1 rearrangement. Polymers with aryl side groups showed less fragmentation due to their higher stability compared to polymers with alkyl side groups. These insights represent a further step toward the construction of a library with fragments and their fragmentation pathways for synthetic polymers, following the successful examples in proteomics. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

From large analogical instruments to small digital black boxes: 40 years of progress in mass spectrometry and its role in proteomics. Part II 1985–2000

This is the continuation of a personal retrospective on the developments that since 1965 have given shape to Mass Spectrometry (MS) and taken it from a position of simply playing a role in Protein Chemistry to becoming an indispensable tool in Proteomics, all within a 40‐year span. Part I covered the period from 1965 to 1984. This second part reviews the Mass Spectrometry timeline of events from 1985 to 2000, stopping at various time points where MS made significant contributions to protein chemistry or where the development of new instrumentation for MS represented a major advance for peptide and protein work. Major highlights in the field and their significance for peptide and protein characterization such as the advent and practical consequences of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) are covered, including work done with triple quads, the development of time‐of‐flight (TOF) instruments and new ion traps and going on to the more recent work on the full characterization of the Proteome with ion traps, TOF instruments and new ionization and tagging techniques for protein sequencing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.