Peptide mimotopes of phomopsins: Identification, characterization and application in an immunoassay

Peptide mimotopes of plant-associated toxins offer the potential for improving analytical and diagnostic methodologies as well as providing candidates for potential protective vaccines against plant poisoning diseases. Monoclonal antibody (mAb) C₃C₁₁, which recognizes the antimicrotubule phomopsin mycotoxins, was used to isolate peptide mimics of phomopsin A from a random 15-mer phage display peptide library. A total of 46 clones were isolated that showed specific reactivity with the mAb. Amino acid sequence analysis revealed four different types of mimotope sequences, all of which contained a common motif V-A-L/V-C. Of the 46 clones isolated, 44 contained the motif V-A-L-C while 2 contained the V-A-V-C motif. All four types of phage clones inhibited the reactivity of the mAb with phomopsin A in a competition ELISA. The clone with the mimotope sequence CT VALCNMYFGAKLD demonstrated the strongest binding. It was further shown that synthetic peptides containing these mimotope amino acid sequences were able to inhibit the mAb-phomopsin A interaction, indicating that the peptide mimotopes were responsible for the specific binding, independent of the phage framework. The results also suggest that the mimotope peptides bind to mAb C₃C₁₁ at the same site as phomopsin A. The application of recombinant phage particles carrying phomopsin mimotopes in immunoassay was evaluated and the results demonstrated approximately 100-fold increase in sensitivity in comparison with a conventional immunoassay using a chemically linked phomopsin-horseradish peroxidase conjugate.     

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy and its artifacts: simulations and tests

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy (FFS)[1,2] is a kind of fluorescence detection techniques suitable for monitoring interaction and transportation processes in a small detection zone of biological systems. FFS detects and analyzes the fluorescence signal of the fluorescent molecules in the detection zone to retrieve the dynamical parameters of the system including concentration, diffusion coefficient and interaction constants. FFS utilizes various statistical methods to analyze the data,…     

Intrinsic vacancy-induced nanoscale wire structure in heteroepitaxial Ga2Se3/Si(001)

A highly anisotropic growth morphology is found for heteroepitaxial gallium sesquiselenide (Ga2Se3) on the lattice matched substrate, arsenic-terminated Si(001). Scanning tunneling microscopy of Ga2Se3 films reveals nanoscale, wirelike structures covering the surface in parallel lines, less than 1 nm wide and up to 30 nm long. Core-level photoemission spectroscopy and diffraction reveals the local structure of buried Ga and Se atoms to reflect the bulk, defected zinc-blende structure of beta-Ga2Se3, which contains ordered 110 arrays of Ga vacancies. These ordered vacancy lines are proposed to be responsible for the observed growth anisotropy in heteroepitaxial Ga2Se3.     

Superbroadband 1310 nm emission from bismuth and tantalum codoped germanium oxide glasses

Near-infrared broadband emission from bismuth-tantalum-codoped germanium oxide glasses was observed at room temperature when the glasses were pumped by an 808 nm laser diode. The emission band covered the O, E, S, C, and L bands (1260-1625 nm), with a maximum peak at approximately 1310 nm, a FWHM broader than 400 nm, and a lifetime longer than 200 micros. The observed broadband luminescence was attributed to bismuth clusters in the glasses. Bismuth-tantalum-codoped germanium oxide glass might be promising as amplification media for broadly tunable lasers and wideband amplifiers in optical communications.     

Ice tessellation on a hydroxylated silica surface

The adsorption of water on a fully hydroxylated silica surface is studied by using density-functional total-energy and molecular dynamics calculations. The (100) surface of beta(alpha)-cristobalite covered by geminal hydroxyls has been taken as the substrate. A well-ordered and stable two-dimensional ice with quadrangular and octagonal patterns of hydrogen bond (H-bond) networks-an ice tessellation-is found on the surface for the first time. With the vibrational recognition, the four water molecules in the quadrangle are found to be bonded by strong H bonds while the quadrangles are connected to each other by weak H bonds. This configuration is the most stable, because all the water molecules are fully saturated with H bonds either to each other or to the surface hydroxyl groups.     

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser with a GaAs saturable absorber mirror

We report on a diode end-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:GdVO₄ laser. By using a GaAs wafer simultaneously as the saturable absorber and the output coupler, stable continuous-wave mode locking was achieved. The pulse width was measured to be 18.9 picoseconds at a repetition rate of 370 MHz. The most remarkable property of the laser is that its repetition rate can be changed from 370 MHz to 3.348 GHz by simply changing the cavity length. An average output power of 3.46 W at a 3.348 GHz repetition rate was obtained with a 14 W pump power. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a passively mode-locked Nd:GdVO₄ laser using a GaAs wafer as the saturable absorber. PACS 42.55.Rz; 42.60.Fc; 42.55.Xi.     

Separation of proteins on surface-modified poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic devices

Separation and detection of proteins have been realized on nonionic surfactant-modified poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfabricated devices with end-column amperometric detection. The hydrophobic PDMS channels are turned into hydrophilic ones after being modified with Brij35 and facilitate the separation of proteins. The coating can remarkably reduce the adsorption of large protein molecules and is stable in the range of pH 6-12. The detection of proteins in such channels needs less rinsing time and thus efficiency is raised. Even large molecules of proteins can also be detected with better reproducibility and enhanced plate numbers. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the migration time for glucose oxidase (GOD) is 2.2% (n = 19). Separation of GOD and myoglobin has been developed in modified channels. Predominant operational variables, such as the coating conditions, the concentration of surfactant and buffer, are studied in detail.     

Octanuclear metallocyclic Ni4Fc4 compound: synthesis, crystal structure, and electrochemical sensing for Mg2+

New, neutral octanuclearmacrocyclic compound Ni(4)Fc(4) was achieved via self-assembly from Ni(BF(4))(2) and a ferrocene-containing bis-tridentate ligand. The compound exhibits a channeled structure with cavities inside and senses the Mg(2+) electrochemically in the solid state.     

A fast Fourier transform on multipoles (FFTM) algorithm for solving Helmholtz equation in acoustics analysis

This article presents a fast algorithm for the efficient solution of the Helmholtz equation. The method is based on the translation theory of the multipole expansions. Here, the speedup comes from the convolution nature of the translation operators, which can be evaluated rapidly using fast Fourier transform algorithms. Also, the computations of the translation operators are accelerated by using the recursive formulas developed recently by Gumerov and Duraiswami [SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 25, 1344-1381(2003)]. It is demonstrated that the algorithm can produce good accuracy with a relatively low order of expansion. Efficiency analyses of the algorithm reveal that it has computational complexities of O(Na), where a ranges from 1.05 to 1.24. However, this method requires substantially more memory to store the translation operators as compared to the fast multipole method. Hence, despite its simplicity in implementation, this memory requirement issue may limit the application of this algorithm to solving very large-scale problems.     

Freeze-drying of mononuclear cells and whole blood of human cord blood

The research on haematopoietic stem cells of human cord blood has become more important recently. People have concentrated on the preservation of cord blood stem cells. At present, cord blood can be preserved at ultra-low temperatures. In this study, we try to preserve cord blood and its constituents by freeze-drying. The experiments on both the mononuclear cell content and the whole blood of human cord blood were carried out respectively. The samples were frozen firstly by different cooling protocols in the presence of PVP, sucrose, and mannitol. Afterwards, they were vacuum-dried at a selected shelf temperature of -30 degree C for the main drying stage, and then vacuum-dried at 15 degree C for the second drying stage. The entire time of the freeze drying was 52 hours. Samples were stored at room temperature for 2 days prior to evaluation. Subsequently, the dried samples were suspended in an isotonic phosphate-buffered saline solution. The recovery of the cells were tested by a haemacytometer, and the highest cell numerical count recovery of MNC was 75.0 percent (SD = 4.1 percent) (P = 0.01), obtained in the protocol of 40 percent PVP + 20 percent sucrose + 10 percent Mannitol. The viability of the nucleated cells measured by PI staining and the ratio of the number of CD34+ to the number of lymphocytes (by the FITC anti-human CD34+ conjugated antibody method) were measured using a flow cytometer (FCM). The protocol of 40 percent PVP + 20 percent sucrose + 10 percent fetal bovine serum had the highest viability of 98.6 percent (SD = 0.7 percent) (P = 0.01). The highest ratio of CD34+ to lymphocytes was 1.2%, and the highest recovery of CD34+ was 68.4 percent (SD = 39.5 percent) (P = 0.05). Comparing the results of the lyophilized MNC subfraction with that of the whole blood, the lyophilization of the isolated MNC was more successful than that of whole blood.