基于Aerolysin纳米孔道对单个c-di-AMP分子的检测研究

环二腺苷酸(c-di-AMP)是原核细胞中普遍存在的第二信使, 不仅能够有效调控细胞生长、离子转运、细胞壁代谢平衡等多种生理过程, 还能引发I型干扰素应答, 激发机体天然免疫反应. 本实验使用单个气单胞菌溶素(Aerolysin)纳米孔道蛋白构建的单分子界面, 对c-di-AMP进行单分子测量研究. 为提高Aerolysin纳米孔对带负电小分子化合物的测量灵敏度, 本实验利用LiCl为支持电解质, 有效屏蔽Aerolysin孔口表面负电荷, 减小c-di-AMP与Aerolysin纳米孔之间的静电排斥, 从而显著增强了Aerolysin纳米孔道对单个c-di-AMP分子的检测能力. 实验结果显示, 在90 mV电压下, 每分钟在LiCl中获得的有效穿孔事件的数量最高可达同条件KCl支持电解质的30倍, 且有效穿孔事件占总体事件的比例在不同电压下提升了7~11倍. 进一步表明, 使用LiCl支持电解质, 可有效增强Aerolysin孔道对带负电小分子化合物的测量灵敏度. 因此, 本研究实现了Aerolysin纳米孔道对单个环二核苷酸的高灵敏免标记检测, 有望为单分子水平上阐明新型免疫干扰机制提供新的分析方法.     

纳米通道单分子检测低噪音电流放大器系统的研究

研制了一种新型微电流放大器系统,用于检测琢-Hemolysin生物蛋白纳米通道在单分子检测实验中所产生的微弱电流信号(<100 pA)。在1 mol/L KCl、10 mmol/L Tris-HCl,1 mmol/L EDTA的缓冲液(pH 8.0)中测定了DNA-PEG-DNA交联物与纳米通道的穿越和碰撞信号。实验中使用3 kHz贝塞尔滤波器和100 kHz模数转换器来对电流进行采样。结果表明,此放大器系统能够有效降低电流记录过程中的噪音,有利于分辨待测物分子与纳米通道作用所产生的较小阻断的电流信号(<10 pA)。     

单分子电泳:纳米孔道电化学的新认识

该文旨在从电泳分离技术的角度认识纳米孔道电化学单分子分析技术,这种技术可以作为"单分子电泳"来理解和研究。纳米孔道电化学单分子分析技术与电泳的本质都是采用外加电场使待测分子产生电迁移。待测分子性质不同,且与介质材料孔道外露基团相互作用不同,使得分子移动速度具有差异,据此实现分离识别。气单胞菌溶素(Aerolysin)纳米孔道,由于其孔径与待测分子尺寸相匹配,其孔道内壁可以看作是由氨基酸组成的具有调控单个分子电迁移能力的特异性孔道界面。每一个氨基酸残基都相当于一个探测单元,在电场力的作用下,待测分子逐一进入孔道时与每一个探测单元相互作用方式、程度与时长不同,从而形成了单个待测分子特征的迁移速度和迁移运动轨迹。在纳米孔道实验中,每秒可以有上千个待测分子穿过孔道,产生特征阻断电流信号。通过对这些信号的阻断电流、阻断时间、阻断频率、信号特征等进行统计分析,可以从"单分子电泳"水平对单个待测物实现高通量的分辨和识别。该文以Aerolysin纳米孔道分辨仅有一个核苷酸差异的寡聚核苷酸(5′-CAA-3′、5′-CAAA-3′、5′-CAAAA-3′)为例,详细阐述了纳米孔道"单分子电泳"的单核苷酸...     

Exponentially modified Gaussian relevance to the distributions of translocation events in nanopore-based single molecule detection

Nanopore technique plays an important role in single molecule detection, which illuminates the properties of an individual molecule by analyzing the blockage durations and currents. However, the traditional exponential function is lack of efficiency to describe the distributions of blockage durations in nanopore experiments. Herein, we introduced an exponentially modified Gaussian （EMG） function to fit the duration histograms of both simulated events and experimental events. In comparison with the traditional exponential function, our results demonstrated that the EMG provides a better fit while covers the entire range of the distributions. In particular, the fitted parameters of EMG could be directly used to discriminate the sequence length of the oligonucleotides at single molecule level.     

Sexing Bovine Embryos Using PCR Amplification of Bovine SRY Sequence

This study analyses the bovine SRY DNA sequence by direct sequencing procedure, followed by the designation of the PCR primers specific for bovine SRY. Using PCR amplification of bovine SRY gene, the embryo sex was determined. The results of the embryo sex identification were confirmed after the embryo transfer and pregnancies.     

Highly selective in situ metal ion determination by hybrid electrochemical "adsorption-desorption" and colorimetric methods

A novel and facile hybrid analytical method coupling electrochemical “adsorption–desorption” and colorimetric analyses was developed to detect heavy metal ions in turbid water samples. The target metal ions were deposited onto an electrode inserted into the original sample, which was referred to as the “adsorption” process. After changing the medium, the concentrated target metal ions were dissolved in a new, clean buffer (blank buffer), which was referred to as the “desorption” process. The concentrations of the target metal ions were measured by colorimetric analyses after the addition of specific indicator amounts. We demonstrated the applicability of this method by detecting Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺ with co-depositing Bi³⁺ on portable screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). A good correlation (correlation coefficient of R = 0.997) was observed between concentrations ranging from 1 to 200 μM and absorbance values. After the multiple “desorption” process, the even better detection limits as low as 10, 10 and 100 nM were achieved for Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺, respectively. The practicality of this hybrid method was confirmed by the detection of Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺ in wastewater samples, and these results were in agreement with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Overall, this hybrid method provides a simple, selective and effective technique for environmental pollutant analyses.     

Study of electron transfer in ferrocene-labeled collagen-like peptides

This study describes the electron transfer (ET) phenomenon through a series of (Pro-Hyp-Gly) repeat units containing collagen mimics. The peptides contain redox-active ferrocene (Fc) and thiol-functionalized cystein (Cys) at the N- and C-terminals, respectively. Peptide films were prepared on gold surfaces and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ellipsometry, and Fourier transform-reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (FT-RAIRS). Electrochemical investigations of the films showed a linear but weakly distance-dependent ET. The importance of H-bonding was realized, and the possibility of a conformationally gated ET mechanism has been discussed.     

An OFF-ON fluorescent probe for Zn2+ based on a GFP-inspired imidazolone derivative attached to a 1,10-phenanthroline moiety

A green fluorescent protein chromophore inspired chemosenor for Zn(2+) was designed and synthesized. A Zn(2+) specific fluorescence enhancement was observed due to restricted rotation between the 1,10-phenanthroline and imidazolone moieties.     

Tracking the Electrocatalytic Activity of a Single Palladium Nanoparticle for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The nanoparticle-based electrocatalysts’ performance is directly related to their working conditions. In general, a number of nanoparticles are uncontrollably fixed on a millimetre-sized electrode for electrochemical measurements. However, it is hard to reveal the maximum electrocatalytic activity owing to the aggregation and detachment of nanoparticles on the electrode surface. To solve this problem, here, we take the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyzed by palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) as a model system to track the electrocatalytic activity of single Pd NPs by stochastic collision electrochemistry and ensemble electrochemistry, respectively. Compared with the nanoparticle fixed working condition, Pd NPs in the nanoparticle diffused working condition results in a 2–5 orders magnitude enhancement of electrocatalytic activity for HER at various bias potential. Stochastic collision electrochemistry with high temporal resolution gives further insights into the accurate study of NPs’ electrocatalytic performance, enabling to dramatically enhance electrocatalytic efficiency.