Highly efficient size separation of CdTe quantum dots by capillary gel electrophoresis using polymer solution as sieving medium

In this paper, we present a new method for highly efficient size separation of water-soluble CdTe quantum dots (QDs) based on CGE using polymer solution as sieving medium. CdTe QDs were synthesized in aqueous phase by a chemical route with mercaptopropionic acid as a ligand. In the alkaline solution, CdTe QDs possess negative charges and migrate to the anode in the electric field. In linear polyacrylamide sieving medium, the migration time of CdTe QDs was increased with the size of CdTe QDs. The effects of some factors, such as types, concentrations, and pH of sieving media, on the separation of CdTe QDs were investigated systematically. Highly efficient separation of CdTe QDs was obtained in linear polyacrylamide sieving medium, and collection of fractions was automatically accomplished by CGE technique. Our preliminary results show that CGE technique is an efficient tool for characterization and size-dependent separation of water-soluble nanoparticles. In addition, the fraction collection in CGE may be useful in certain special applications such as fabrication of nanodevices in the future.     

Determination of PCR products by CE with contactless conductivity detection

The use of CE with contactless conductivity detection for the determination of PCR products is demonstrated for the first time. The separation of specific length PCR products according to their size could be achieved using 5% PVP as a sieving medium in a separation buffer consisting of 20 mM Tris and 20 mM 2‐(cyclohexylamino)ethansulphonic acid (pH 8.5). A fused silica capillary of 60 cm length and 50 μm id and an applied separation voltage of –15 kV were employed and separations could be completed within 20–50 min. PCR amplified DNA fragments of different sizes obtained from different bacterial plasmid templates as well as a fragment from genomic DNA of genetically modified soybeans could be successfully identified.     

Highly efficient approach for characterizing nanometer-sized gold particles by capillary electrophoresis

This paper demonstrates that capillary electrophoresis (CE) can be employed for characterizing the sizes of nanometer-scale gold particles. We characterized the gold nanoparticles by effecting CE separation using a buffer of SDS (70 mM) and 3-cyclohexylamino-1-propanesulfonic acid (CAPS; 10 mM) at pH 11.0 and an applied voltage of 18 kV and obtained a linear relationship (R² > 0.99) between electrophoretic mobilities and size for nanoparticles whose diameters fall in the regime from 5.0 ± 0.5 to 41.2 ± 3.3 nm; the relative standard deviations of these electrophoretic mobilities are <0.8%. We evaluated the feasibility of employing these separation conditions for the size characterization by of gold nanoparticle samples that were synthesized by a rapid microwave heating method. We confirmed that this CE method is a valid one for size characterization by comparing the results obtained by CE with those provided by scanning electron microscopy (SEM); a good correlation exists between these two techniques. Our results demonstrate that CE can be employed to accelerate the analysis of the sizes of nanomaterials.     

Sizes of water-soluble luminescent quantum dots measured by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

In this paper, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) was applied to measure the size of water-soluble quantum dots (QDs). The measurements were performed on a home-built FCS system based on the Stokes-Einstein equation. The obtained results showed that for bare CdTe QDs the sizes from FCS were larger than the ones from transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The brightness of QDs was also evaluated using FCS technique. It was found that the stability of the surface chemistry of QDs would be significantly improved by capping it with hard-core shell. Our data demonstrated that FCS is a simple, fast, and effective method for characterizing the fluorescent quantum dots, and is especially suitable for determining the fluorescent nanoparticles less than 10 nm in water solution.     

Evaluation of sieving matrices used to separate alleles by cycling temperature capillary electrophoresis

Denaturing CE (DCE) is a powerful tool for analysis of DNA variation. The development of commercial multi-CE instruments allows large-scale studies of DNA variation (many samples and many fragments). However, the cost of consumables like capillary arrays and sieving matrix might limit the use of DCE in such studies. Thus, we have tested 72 different in-house formulated sieving matrices' ability to suppress EOF and separate PCR-amplified alleles with the DCE variant, cycling temperature CE (CTCE). The data herein demonstrate that alleles can be baseline-separated by use of PVP and poly(N,N-dimethyl acrylamide) polymers at various percentages and pH. Allele separation by CTCE is matrix-independent and consequently applicable to any capillary instrument used for DNA separation. Formulation of sieving matrix for CTCE was done by dissolving appropriate amount of polymer powder into the running buffers. Allele separation was observed at different pH (7.5-8.5), concentrations and molecular size of the polymer, without compromising the separation and reproducibility. Finally, the cost reduction of homemade matrices is more than 1000-fold as compared to commercial sieving matrices.     

Evaluation of different nucleic acid stains for sensitive double-stranded DNA analysis with capillary electrophoretic separation

This paper outlines the first use of SYTOX Orange, SYTO 82 and SYTO 25 nucleic acid stains for on-column staining of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) fragments separated by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Low-viscosity, replaceable poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) polymer solution was used as the sieving matrix on an uncoated fused-silica capillary. The effects of PVP concentration, electric field strength, and incorporated nucleic acid stain concentrations on separation efficiency were examined for a wide range of DNA fragment sizes. Our study was focused on using nucleic acid stains efficiently excitable at a wavelength of 532 nm. Among the five tested nucleic acid stains, SYTOX Orange stain was shown to have the best sensitivity for dsDNA detection by CE. About a 500-fold lower detection limit was obtained compared to commonly used ethidium bromide and propidium iodide. SYTOX Orange stain also provided a wide linear dynamic range for direct DNA quantitation with on-line CE detection. Use of SYTOX Orange stain can greatly improve the measurement of DNA fragments by CE, which will enable an expanded set of applications in genomics and diagnostics.     

Nonconventional synthesis and characterization of ultrahigh-molar-mass polyacrylamides

In spite of the significant progresses in the field of replaceable sieving matrices for separating DNA in capillary electrophoresis (CE), an intense research activity is still going on to improve the separation of large size DNA sequencing fragments. There are evidences, both from experimental and theoretical sides that the resolution of these fragments, at the single base, requires the use of sieving matrices comprised of long chain linear polymers. In the separation of DNA fragments by CE are of upmost importance: (i) the complete solubility of the polymer, (ii) the linearity of the chain, (iii) the achievement of ultrahigh viscosity in dilute solutions. The aim of this work is the synthesis of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polymers which possess the three requirements mentioned above by employing a nonconventional method. We demonstrate that the sieving performance of polyacrylamide is directly correlated to its intrinsic viscosity.     

Genotyping of α-thalassemia deletions using multiplex polymerase chain reactions and gold nanoparticle-filled capillary electrophoresis

A gold nanoparticle-filled capillary electrophoresis method combined with three multiplex polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) was established for simultaneous diagnosis of five common α-thalassemia deletions, including the -α^3.7 deletion, -α^4.2 deletion, Southeast Asian (- -^SEA), Filipino (- -^FIL) and Thai (- -^THAI) deletions. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were used as a pseudostationary phase to improve the resolution between DNA fragments in a low-viscosity polymer. To achieve the best CE separation, several parameters were evaluated for optimizing the separation conditions, including the capillary coating, the concentrations of polymer sieving matrix, the sizes and concentrations of GNPs, the buffer concentrations, and the pH. The final CE method for separating a 200-base pair (bp) DNA ladder and α-thalassemia deletions used a DB-17 capillary, 0.6% poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) prepared in a mixture of GNP_32nm solution and glycine buffer (25 mM, pH 9.0) (80:20, v/v) as the sieving matrix with 1 μM YO-PRO-1 for fluorescence detection; the applied voltage was −10 kV (detector at anode side) and the separation temperature was 25 °C. Under these optimal conditions, 15 DNA fragments with sizes ranging from 0.2 kb to 3.0 kb were resolved within 11.5 min. The RSDs of migration times were less than 2.81%. A total of 21 patients with α-thalassemia deletions were analyzed using this method, and all results showed good agreement with those obtained by gel electrophoresis.     

Determination of Morphological Properties of Swellable Solids by Size Exclusion Chromatography

Many technically interesting porous solids, e.g. ion exchangers or adsorbents for catalysis, are swellable polymers, i.e. the pore structure depends on the solvent medium. A method based on exclusion chromatography, permits determination of the pore size and pore size distribution in the swollen state.—Size exclusion chromatography, also referred to as gel permeation, gel filtration, or molecular sieve chromatography, is a widely employed method for the separation of dissolved substances—mostly polymer mixtures—according to their molecular size. Porous solids are used as stationary phase. Conversely, pore sizes and other structural data can be determined by exclusion chromatography. This application requires a series of standards (polymer samples) of known molecular weight. As a simple and rapid method, it has already proven valuable for such determinations in the case of rigid solids; in the case of swellable solids, this constitutes the sole method by which the pore structure can be characterized: classical methods require dry samples.     

Sensitized chemiluminescence of CdTe quantum-dots on Ce(IV)-sulfite and its analytical applications

Water-soluble CdTe quantum-dots (QDs) of different sizes capped with thioglycolic acid (TGA) were synthesized via a microwave-assisted method. It was found that CdTe QDs, as a kind of sensitizer, could enhance the chemiluminescence (CL) emission from the redox reaction of SO3(2-) with Ce(IV) in acidic medium. In combination with the flow injection technique, the effects of reactant concentrations, the sizes of CdTe QDs, some organic compounds, and several electron transfer proteins on the CL emission were investigated in detail. The sensitized CL displayed the size-dependent effect and increased along with increasing the QDs sizes. Organic compounds containing OH, NH2, or SH groups, and some electron transfer proteins such as cytochrome c, hemoglobin and myoglobin, which readily interact with CdTe QDs, were observed to inhibit the CL signal of the Ce(IV)-SO3(2-)-CdTe QDs system, which made it applicable for the determination of such compounds and proteins. The CL enhancement mechanism was also discussed briefly on the basis of the photoluminescence (PL) and CL spectra. This work is not only of importance for gaining a better understanding of the unique optical and physical chemistry properties of semiconductor nanocrystals but also of great potential to find applications in many fields such as luminescence devices, bioanalysis, and multicolor labeling probes.     

Low viscosity DNA sieving matrices for capillary electrophoresis

The rapid development of DNA capillary electrophoresis (CE) technology has increased the demand of new low viscosity sieving matrices with high separation capacity. The high throughput, resolution and automatic operation of CE systems have stimulated the application of the technique to different kinds of DNA analysis, including DNA sequencing, separation of restriction fragments, PCR products and synthetic oligonucleotides. In addition specific methods for PCR-based mutation assays for the study of known and unknown point mutations have been developed for use in CE. The key component for a large scale application of CE to DNA analysis is the availability of appropriate sieving matrices. This article gives an overview of the linear polymers used as DNA separation matrices with particular emphasis on the polymers that combine high sieving capacity, low viscosity and chemical resistance.     

Hydroxyethylcellulose-graft-poly (N,N-dimethylacrylamide) copolymer as a multifunctional separation medium for CE

A new multifunctional separation medium, hydroxyethylcellulose-graft-poly (N,N-dimethylacrylamide) copolymer synthesized in our laboratory for application in both basic protein separation and dsDNA separation by CE, is presented in this paper. As a noncovalent coating, this medium showed a powerful capability in resisting basic protein adsorption. Highly efficient and rapid protein separation had been obtained at four different pH values. Meanwhile, the 11 fragments of the dsDNA sample could be baseline separated using this grafted copolymer as sieving matrix at an appropriate concentration.     

Identifying the orientation of DNA fragment in recombinant plasmid by capillary electrophoresis with a non-gel sieving solution.

It was demonstrated that a capillary electrophoresis (CE) method with a non-gel sieving solution has been developed to identify the orientation of DNA fragments in recombinant plasmids in molecular biology. The influences of the concentration of sieving polymer HEC, the applied electric field strength and sampling on CE separation were analyzed concerning the optimization of separation. YO-PRO-1 was used as a DNA intercalating reagent to facilitate fluorescence detection. Under the chosen conditions (buffer, 1 x TBE containing 1 microM YO-PRO-1 and 1.2% HEC; applied electric field strength, 200 V/cm; electrokinetic sampling: time, 5 s; voltage, -6 kV), three DNA markers (phi 174/HaeIII, pBR322/HaeIII and lambda DNA/HindIII) were tested for further evaluating the relationship between the DNA size and the mobility. The established CE method conjugated with the enzymatic approach was successfully applied to identifying the DNA orientation of recombinant plasmid in transgene operations of a newly cloned gene from Arabidopsis Thaliana.     

Portable capillary electrophoresis system with potential gradient detection for separation of DNA fragments

A portable capillary electrophoresis (CE) system with a novel potential gradient detection (PGD) was utilized to separate DNA fragments. For the first time it was demonstrated that separation of DNA fragments in polymer solution could be detected by a portable CE system integrated with PGD, with a limit of detection (LOD) comparable to that of the CE-ultraviolet (UV) method. Effects of buffer solution, sieving medium, and applied voltage were also investigated. The portable CE-PGD system shows several potential advantages, such as simplicity, cost effectiveness, and miniaturization.     

Characterization and separation of semiconductor quantum dots and their conjugates by capillary electrophoresis

Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are very important luminescent nanomaterials with a wide range of potential applications. Currently, QDs as labeling probes are broadly used in bioassays, including immunoassay, DNA hybridization, and bioimaging, due to their excellent physical and chemical properties, such as broad excitation spectra, narrow and size‐dependent emission profiles, long fluorescence life time, and good photostability. The characterization of QDs and their conjugates is crucial for their wide bioapplications. CE has become a powerful tool for the separation and characterization of QDs and their conjugates. In this review, some CE separation models of QDs are first introduced, mainly including CZE, CGE, MEKC, and ITP. And then, some key applications, such as the measurements of size, surface charge, and concentration of QDs and the characterization of QDs conjugates (e.g. QD–protein, QD–DNA, QD–small molecule), are also described. Finally, future perspectives are discussed.     

Influence of fluorophor dye labels on the migration behavior of polymerase chain reaction--amplified short tandem repeats during denaturing capillary electrophoresis.

The determination of the length of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified short tandem repeats (STRs) by denaturing capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a standard procedure for purposes of genotyping. We show that dye-specific mobility anomalies exist for 5'-fluorophor-labelled single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) fragments in CE using the performance-optimized polymer 4 (POP4) buffer sieving matrix, containing the entangled poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) polymer, urea, and 2-pyrrolidinone. The dye-specific retardation effects relative to coseparated GeneScan-500 [TAMRA] standard fragments can lead to wrong genotyping, even for allele-specific fragments of pentanucleotide STRs, when comparing the relative calculated sizes of identical fragments, labelled with rhodamine (ROX, TAMRA) or fluorescein dyes (FAM, 6-FAM, HEX, JOE, NED, TET): The size of fluorescein dye-labelled fragments of appr. 100 b in length appears to be smaller by up to 6.5 b. This effect becomes more dramatic with decreasing size: a 6-FAM-labelled 24-mer oligonucleotide appeared to be smaller by 11 b. In contrast, in classical urea/polyacrylamide slab-gel electrophoresis only a small dye-specific retardation of identical fragments is observed. The dye-specific effects are superimposed by weaker size and sequence-dependent anomalies of fragment mobility. Therefore, in denaturing CE the coseparation of a defined allele ladder labelled with the same dye as the unknown sample fragments remains the method of choice for accurate genotyping.     

毛细管电泳-激光诱导荧光检测法分析胃癌组织及癌旁正常组织蛋白质的差异性

胃癌是临床常见的恶性肿瘤之一。近年来寻找肿瘤相关特异蛋白质是蛋白质组学研究的热点。本文通过考察毛细管动态涂层方法、筛分介质聚环氧乙烷(PEO)的浓度、缓冲液的pH值、分离电压、温度及荧光染料对分离效果的影响,建立了毛细管电泳-激光诱导荧光法分离胃癌组织及癌旁正常组织蛋白质的方法;通过分离检测,获得两者的蛋白质指纹图谱。经分析,两者的指纹图谱相似度达到0.8以上,差异蛋白质分子质量集中在50000~100000 Da之间,提示某些小分子蛋白质可能是和肿瘤发生相关的特异蛋白质,从而缩小了特异性分子标记物的筛选范围。病理组织学分型及蛋白质电泳峰数目的统计结果验证了该方法的可靠性。该方法具有临床应用的潜力。     

Capillary electrophoretic studies on quantum dots and histidine appended peptides self‐assembly

Herein, we designed four peptides appended with different numbers of histidine (His_n‐peptide). We launched a systematic investigation on quantum dots (QDs) and His_n‐peptide self‐assembly in solution using fluorescence coupled CE (CE‐FL). The results indicated that CE‐FL was a powerful method to probe how ligands interaction on the surface of nanoparticles. The self‐assembly of QDs and peptide was determined by the numbers of histidine. We also observed that longer polyhistidine tags (n ≤ 6) could improve the self‐assembly efficiency. Furthermore, the formation and separation of QD‐peptide assembly were also studied by CE‐FL inside a capillary. The total time for the mixing, self‐assembly, separation, and detection was less than 10 min. Our method greatly expands the application of CE‐FL in QDs‐based biolabeling and bioanalysis.     

In-capillary non-covalent labeling and determination of tomato systemin with quantum dots in capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

Quantum dots (QDs), with their superior size-dependent fluorescence properties, have been employed as non-covalent fluorescent labels for the determination of tomato systemin (TomSys) by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) detection. The optimum conditions of in-capillary labeling and CE separation were investigated in detail, and complete separation of QDs-labeled TomSys from free QDs labels was achieved. Satisfactory results were obtained in terms of linearity (R(2)=0.998), sensitivity (limit of detection, 66 fmol) and repeatability (run-to-run RSDs of migration time and peak area, 0.9 and 4.6%, respectively; day-to-day RSDs of migration time and peak area, 3.1 and 11.9%, respectively). The established CE-LIF method was later applied in the detection of TomSys spiked in the sample of tomato leaves, which showed the applicability of the proposed method in the analysis of the target plant peptide hormone in the complex matrix.     

Interactions between CdTe quantum dots and DNA revealed by capillary electrophoresis with laser‐induced fluorescence detection

Quantum dots (QDs) are one of the most promising nanomaterials, due to their size‐dependent characteristics as well as easily controllable size during the synthesis process. They are promising label material and their interaction with biomolecules is of great interest for science. In this study, CdTe QDs were synthesized under optimal conditions for 2 nm size. Characterization and verification of QDs synthesis procedure were done by fluorimetric method and with CE. Afterwards, QDs interaction with chicken genomic DNA and 500 bpDNA fragment was observed employing CE‐LIF and gel electrophoresis. Performed interaction relies on possible matching between size of QDs and major groove of the DNA, which is approximately 2.1 nm.