熊猫型保偏光纤中应力区失配对光纤性能影响的研究

采用弹性力学理论和复变函数法导出了熊猫型保偏光纤应力双折射的近似解析表达式.利用有限元法数值分析了熊猫型保偏光纤的双折射特性,结果表明,与采用纤芯中心应力相比,采用芯区平均应力表示光纤的双折射较为精确,且结果与解析法导出的芯区中心应力双折射计算结果相比误差小于0.18%.在此基础上进一步分析了应力区失配对熊猫型保偏光纤的双折射所产生的影响,并通过实验测试证明了分析结果的正确性. 关键词： 偏振保持光纤 应力区失配 双折射 拍长     

Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Correlation between Peptide-Lipid Interaction and Penetration Efficiency

Cell-penetrating peptides are used in the delivery of peptides and biologics, with some cell-penetrating peptides found to be more efficient than others. The exact mechanism of how they interact with the cell membrane and penetrate it, however, remains unclear. This study attempts to investigate the difference in free energy profiles of three cell-penetrating peptides (TAT, CPP1 and CPP9) with a model lipid bilayer (DOPC) using molecular dynamics pulling simulations with umbrella sampling. Potential mean force (PMF) and free energy barrier between the peptides and DOPC are determined using WHAM analysis and MM-PBSA analysis, respectively. CPP9 is found to have the smallest PMF value, followed by CPP1 and TAT, consistent with the experimental data. YDEGE peptide, however, does not give the highest PMF value, although it is a non-cell-permeable peptide. YDEGE is also found to form water pores, alongside with TAT and CPP9, suggesting that it is difficult to distinguish true water pore formation from artefacts arising from pulling simulations. On the contrary, free energy analysis of the peptide-DOPC complex at the lipid-water interface with MM-PBSA provides results consistent with experimental data with CPP9 having the least interaction with DOPC and lowest free energy barrier, followed by CPP1, TAT and YDEGE. These findings suggest that peptide-lipid interaction at the lipid-water interface has a direct correlation with the penetration efficiency of peptides across the lipid bilayer.     

Transferrin and Its Isoforms from Normal Human Serum Revealed by Several Analytical Techniques

Transferrin（TF） and its isoforms have been widely reported via various analytical techniques, including a noticeable increased number of isoforms with low content of sialic acid（asialo-, monosialo-, and disialo-transferrin） and asialo-TF as well as disialo-TF, with one or several oligosaccharides released in human serum transferrin（hTf）. Here, hTf has been purified by native gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis（PAGEso） before use. The hTf extracted with the electron-transfer approach showed a single subunit band（77.1 Da） in the SDS-PAGE gel, but it exhibited two bands in the native and denatured isoelectric focusing（IEF） gels, namely, hTf-2Fe^3＋ and apo-hTf, without finding any other transferrin isoforms. A reversed phase HPLC（RP-HPLC） equipped with a C18 column effectively separated hTf and its polymers and combined off-line techniques, including peptide mass fingerprinting（PMF）, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry（MALDI-TOF-MS） and database search, and identified the high homology among hTf, apo-hTf, and their isoforms. Moreover, the elution solution consisting of acetonitrile and formic acid could easily denature both hTf and apo-hTf to form various isoforms during separation with HPLC, indicating that chemical factors lead to the formation of various isoforms in transferrin, artificially, during extraction and separation. The authors claimed that only two transferrin isoforms existed in the NHS, namely, hTf-2Fe^3＋ and apo-hTf, which could be employed in biomarkers, to distinguish the healthy population from many disease sufferers, such as, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin（CDT）     

基于高分辨质谱在线观测的2011深圳大运会前后PM_1化学组成与粒径分布

本文利用先进的高分辨飞行时间气溶胶质谱仪（HR-ToF-AMS）于2011年深圳世界大学生运动会前后（2011年8月3日~9月22日）对深圳市区大气亚微米细粒子（PM1）化学成分和粒径分布进行了在线测量.结果表明,整个观测期间PM1质量浓度平均为51.1±32.6gm3,其中有机物占颗粒物总质量的37.9%,硫酸盐为37.1%,铵盐11.9%,黑碳6.6%（由一台单颗粒黑碳光度计（SP2）单独测量）,硝酸盐5.8%,氯化物0.6%.观测期间各成分（除黑碳外）的粒径分布峰值位于真空动力学粒径550nm附近,而有机物在较小粒径范围（100~200nm）仍有较多质量分布,显示出本地一次源的明显贡献.基于高分辨有机质谱计算得到的有机气溶胶的平均元素组成为：碳34.0%、氢53.2%、氧12.0%和氮0.8%（原子个数百分比）,对应的OM/OC（有机物与有机碳质量比）平均值为1.66±0.16.采用正矩阵因子解析（PMF）模型对有机气溶胶高分辨质谱进行因子解析,得到三类有机气溶胶：HOA（还原态有机气溶胶）,SV-OOA（半挥发氧化态有机气溶胶）和LV-OOA（低挥发氧化态有机气溶胶）,分别占有机物总量的31.3%,39.8%和28.9%,说明二次有机气溶胶（以SV-OOA和LV-OOA之和代表）是有机气溶胶的主体部分.结合气团来源分析不同时段PM1化学组成和粒径分布特征表明,大运会召开期间PM1质量浓度水平比整个观测期间的平均值低60.7%,是气团来自洋面等有利气象条件和黄标车限行等污染源控制措施的综合作用结果.     

Alkaline extraction of human plasma proteins from nondenaturing micro-2-D gels for protein/polypeptide mass measurement and peptide mass fingerprinting using MALDI-TOF MS

Previously, we have reported a high-efficiency method of protein extraction from CBB-stained polyacrylamide gels for molecular mass measurement with MALDI-TOF MS [1]. In the present work, the alkaline extraction method was applied to CBB-stained 2-DE gels on which human plasma proteins were separated in the absence of denaturant. In order to examine the performance of the method, ten spots with apparent molecular masses (MMapp) in the range of 65 to 1000 kDa were selected and the proteins were extracted from the gel pieces. The extracts were subjected to whole-mass measurement by MALDI-TOF MS, with and without DTT treatment. In addition, the extracts were subjected to in-solution trypsin digestion followed by MALDI-TOF MS and PMF analysis. Successful extraction of proteins from the ten spots, up to MMapp 1000 kDa, has been ascertained by the significant PMF assignment (MASCOT) with high sequence coverage of the respective proteins or polypeptides. When direct mass measurement of the extracted proteins was attempted, three spots in MMapp range 65-100 kDa provided mass peaks. Five spots in MMapp range 150-400 kDa did not give mass peaks of the intact proteins, but showed those of the constituent polypeptides after the DTT treatment. Extraction of proteins prior to trypsin digestion enabled the procedure of PMF analysis to be much simpler than the conventional in-gel digestion method, providing comparable protein scores and sequence coverage. The technique presented here suggests a new strategy for the characterization of proteins separated by nondenaturing 2-DE.     

一种基于图像处理保偏双尾纤装配精度的检测方法

双尾纤相对位置的装配精度直接影响保偏双光纤准直器的保偏性能。研究和分析了双尾纤的装配精度对保偏准直器保偏性能的影响,并指出双尾纤端面"猫眼"的垂直度是主要影响因素。提出了一种保偏双尾纤装配精度的检测方法,检测系统主要由CCD摄像机、显微镜、图像采集卡和VC开发的检测处理软件等构成。还对系统中保偏双尾纤端面图像获取及图像预处理、检测光心"猫眼"坐标位置所采用的算法及"猫眼"垂直度的检测模型进行阐述,该系统检测精度优于0.5°。     

蛋白质辅助基质提高激光解吸/电离多肽离子化率和绝对强度的研究

人血清转铁蛋白(Human serum transferrin, HTF)、牛血清白蛋白(Bovine serum albumin, BSA)、鲨鱼肝铁蛋白(Sphyrna zygaena liver ferritin, SZLF)、马脾铁蛋白(Horse spleen ferritin, HSF)均能辅助基质提高激光解吸/电离胰岛素(Insulin, INS)和海兔酸性多肽(Aplysia acidic peptide, AP)离子化率和质谱峰的绝对强度(简称为绝对强度), 其中绝对强度分别提高10和4倍, 这一现象不依赖于INS浓度, 而与蛋白质类型和结构有关. SZLF和脱铁核SZLF(apoSZLF)辅助基质提高INS绝对强度的能力几乎相同, 蛋白质中的金属离子含量对这种效应无明显影响, 主要取决于蛋白质的氨基酸组成与结构. 采用胶内酶解和肽指纹技术(PMF)鉴定HTF过程中, 发现基质中分别添加SZLF, apoSZLF和HSF后, HTF肽片段质谱检测的质谱峰数目及绝对强度均有明显增加, 进一步提高了数据库鉴定HTF的可信度.     

Assignment of human plasma polypeptides on a nondenaturing 2-D gel using MALDI-MS and PMF and comparisons with the results of intact protein mapping

Human plasma proteins were separated by 2-DE under nondenaturing conditions followed by the assignment of the CBB-stained spots using MALDI-MS and PMF, aiming to correlate the information of intact proteins with that of constituent polypeptides. A microgel system was employed to facilitate the analysis. Totally 157 spots on a nondenaturing micro-2-DE gel were numbered, the spots were excised, the proteins in the gel pieces were subjected to in-gel digestion with trypsin followed by polypeptide analysis using MALDI-MS and PMF. Two PMF algorithms, MASCOT (with Swiss-Prot database) and ProFound (with NCBInr database) were employed. A total of 153 spots out of the 157 provided significant match (p <0.05) with polypeptides in databases. Eighty spots were assigned to contain multiple (2-4) polypeptides, suggesting (i) noncovalent interaction between proteins/polypeptides, (ii) disulfide bonding of polypeptides, or (iii) overlapping of the protein locations on the gel. The results of polypeptide assignment coincided very well with the results of protein mapping previously reported, in which 33 plasma proteins were identified using blotting-immunochemical staining (Manabe, T., Takahashi, Y., Higuchi, N., Okuyama, T., Electrophoresis 1985, 6, 462-467). Further, 19 polypeptides in 25 spots were newly assigned. These results demonstrate that the techniques of MALDI-MS and PMF can be applied for analysis of proteins separated on nondenaturing 2-DE gels, providing information on their polypeptide structure. The integrated information on proteins and polypeptides would help the comprehensive understanding on the functions of complex protein systems.     

Guided motion of short carbon nanotube driven by non-uniform electric field

The molecular dynamics simulations are performed to show that in aque- ous environments, a short single-walled carbon nanotube （SWCNT） guided by a long SWCNT, either inside or outside the longer tube, is capable of moving along the nanotube axis unidirectionally in an electric field perpendicular to the carbon nanotube （CNT） axis with the linear gradient. The design suggests a new way of molecule transportation or mass delivery. To reveal the mechanism behind this phenomenon, the free energy profiles of the system are calculated by the method of the potential of mean force （PMF）.     

High‐throughput negative detection of SDS‐PAGE separated proteins and its application for proteomics

A negative detection method for proteins on SDS‐PAGE is described. In this method, Eosin Y (EY) was selectively precipitated in the gel background, which is absent from those zones where proteins are located through the formation of a stable water‐soluble protein–dye complex. Negative staining of proteins using EY, allows high‐sensitivity, low‐cost, and simple protocol. The new described method takes less than an hour to complete all the protocol, with a detection limit of 0.5 ng of single protein band. Comparing with imidazole‐zinc negative stain, EY dye provides broader linear dynamic range, higher sensitivity and reproducibility, and better obvious contrast between the protein bands or spots and background. Furthermore, the novel technique developed here presented a real practical method for simultaneous processing of multiple gels, which makes it possible to perform high‐throughput staining for proteome research. Additionally, we have also compared the influence of staining method on the quality of mass spectra by PMF.