Journal of biochemical and biophysical methods最新文献

Macro-, micro- and nanosized chitosan particles suitable as immobilization carriers were prepared by precipitation, emulsion cross-linking and ionic gelation methods, respectively. Effects of particle preparation parameters on particle size were investigated. Activities of β-galactosidase covalently attached to differently sized particles have been evaluated and compared. The highest activity was shown by the biocatalyst immobilized on nanoparticles obtained by means of the ionotropic gelation method with sodium sulphate as gelation agent. β-Galactosidase fixed on macro- and microspheres exhibited excellent storage stability in aqueous solution, with no more than 5% loss of activity after 3 weeks storage at 4 °C and pH 7.0.

Inclusion body refolding processes play a major role in the production of recombinant proteins. Improvement of the size-exclusion chromatography refolding process was achieved by combining a decreasing urea gradient with an increasing arginine gradient (two gradients) for the refolding of NTA protein (a new thrombolytic agent) in this paper. Different refolding methods and different operating conditions in two gradients gel filtration process were investigated with regard to increasing the NTA protein activity recovery and inhibition of aggregation. The refolding of denatured NTA protein showed this method could significantly increase the activity recovery of protein at high protein concentration. The activity recovery of 37% was obtained from the initial NTA protein concentration up to 20 mg/ml. The conclusions presented in this study could also be applied to the refolding of lysozyme.

Phospholamban (PLN) is a key regulatory protein involved in cardiac calcium signaling through the pumping of cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ into the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Recent systems-level studies have focused on integrating quantitative data (e.g. protein expression levels) for a better understanding of cardiac systems biology. In this view, we developed a capillary electrophoresis (CE) based immunoprecipitation method for the measurement of phospho-PLN (ser 16) in cardiomyocytes (HL-1 cell line). Dose-dependent isoproterenol (Iso) treated cells were analyzed using CE, and the phospho-PLN levels were quantified using specific polyclonal antibodies. The CE method employed was accurate, quick and easier compare to other techniques and the results are useful for the subsequent computational systems biology research.

Bacterial β-ketoacyl-ACP reductase (FabG) and the β-ketoacyl reductase domain in mammalian fatty acid synthase (FAS) have the same function and both are rendered as the novel targets for drugs. Herein we developed a convenient method, using an available compound ethyl acetoacetate (EAA) as the substitutive substrate, to measure their activities by monitoring decrease of NADPH absorbance at 340 nm. In addition to the result, ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate (EHB) was detected by HPLC analysis in the reaction system, indicating that EAA worked effectively as the substrate of FabG and FAS since its β-keto group was reduced. Then, the detailed kinetic characteristics, such as optimal ionic strength, pH value and temperature, and kinetic parameters, for FabG and FAS with this substitutive substrate were determined. The K_m and k_cat values of FabG obtained for EAA were 127 mM and 0.30 s^− 1, while those of this enzyme for NADPH were 10.0 μM and 0.59 s^− 1, respectively. The corresponding K_m and k_cat values of FAS were 126 mM and 4.63 s^− 1 for EAA; 8.7 μM and 4.09 s^− 1 for NADPH. Additionally, the inhibitory kinetics of FabG and FAS, by a known inhibitor EGCG, was also studied.

Human paraoxonases-1 is one of the most important detoxifying enzymes. In this study using simple chromatographic procedures human paraoxonases-1 was purified from human pooled plasma. The enzyme was purified using DEAE Sephadex an anion exchanger and G-200 a gel filtration chromatographic media. Results showed a single band of approximately 43 KD proteins in SDS–PAGE, corresponding to the human PON1. Using paraoxon as the substrate the activity was related to the concentration of calcium and sodium ions (K_m = 1.2 ± 0.2 mM). Phenyl acetate hydrolyzing activity was independent of sodium and calcium ions (K_m = 0.78 ± 0.08 mM). Keeping at 25 °C for 20 days 75% of the enzyme original activity was restored in 20% (v/v) glycerol. EDTA and zinc chloride both inhibited the enzyme activity. In conclusion the applied procedures can be used for large scale purification. It would greatly facilitate their structural and functional characterization and permit examination of their weak, yet potentially most biologically relevant activities, in the complete absence of other serum proteins.

A novel approach is described for the synthesis of beds for enzyme reactors. The method is based on the use of artificial antibodies in the form of polyacrylamide gel particles with diameters around 0.1–0.3 mm. These gel particles mimic protein antibodies, raised in experimental animals, in the sense that they selectively recognize and adsorb only the protein present during the preparation of the “antibodies”. The gel antibodies have several advantages over conventional protein antibodies, which can be taken advantage of in the design of enzyme reactors; for instance, if upon prolonged use the immobilized enzyme loses its activity it can easily be replaced by an active enzyme, which is not possible when the enzyme is immobilized via a conventional protein antibody (a new bed with immobilized protein antibodies must be prepared); and equally or more remarkable: the enzyme can be applied in the form of a non-purified extract since the selectivity of the artificial gel antibodies is so high that they will “fish-out” the enzyme, but no other proteins in the extract. In addition, no preconcentration of the enzyme solution is required prior to the immobilization, since the enzyme is enriched at the top of the column upon the application. These unique properties make enzyme reactors based on artificial gel antibodies very attractive, also in process chromatography. The potential application range of the artificial gel antibodies is enormous since the same method for their synthesis can be used independent of the structure and the size of the “antigen”; for instance, renewable biosensors based on gel antibodies for the selective detection of protein biomarkers, as well as pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and spores (for instance Anthrax) should not be difficult to design.

Cell complexes composed of two different cells labeled with different fluorophores can be detected as double positive events in the flow cytometer. Double positivity can originate not only from real complexes but from non-interacting coinciding cells as well. Coincidence has a high impact on the determination of the amount of platelet–granulocyte complexes since platelet concentration is in the orders of magnitude higher than that of the granulocytes. Mixtures of non-interacting fluorescent beads as well as EDTA anticoagulated or citrated blood samples were analyzed in the flow cytometer in the presence and absence of fluorescent beads at various dilutions. Experimental data were evaluated by mathematical means. The bead or platelet concentration dependence of double positivity was converted into linear functions using Poisson distribution. This linearised form contains information on the detection volume as well as on the presence/absence of dilution independent complexes. The presence of appropriate fluorescent beads in the blood sample makes possible to estimate the fraction of double positivity originating from coincidence if data collection is triggered by the granulocytes or by the fluorescent beads, alternatively. Mixing fluorescent beads into a blood sample is a simple experimental method to distinguish double positivity originating from real cell–cell complexes from the coincidence of cells in a flow cytometer, thus providing a tool for the determination of the real amount of cell–cell complexes.

A method is described for on-line enrichment/zone sharpening of a sample of negatively charged proteins (an analogous method for cationic proteins can be designed). The sample is applied on the top of a 5-mm thick layer of a neutral polyacrylamide gel which rests on another 5-mm thick, large-pore polyacrylamide gel which contains positively charged groups. The latter gel layer is attached to the neutral gel column, used for the electrophoretic separation of the proteins. When a voltage is applied the proteins start migrating and become electrostatically adsorbed at the top of the charged, large-pore gel layer (pH 5.4). With the upper electrode vessel filled with a buffer of a pH higher (pH 7.7) than that employed in the enrichment step and with a voltage between the electrodes, these enriched proteins are released (because the enrichment gel is non-charged at pH 7.7) with zone sharpening and migrate into the 5-cm long column (i.d. 5 mm) of a neutral, large-pore polyacrylamide gel for electrophoretic analysis. Upon the electrophoretic migration from the enrichment gel into the separation gel a second zone sharpening may occur, if the increase in pH from 5.4 to 7.7 in the separation gel is not close to momentary. By employing colored test proteins the efficiency of the enrichment step is visually illustrated by a picture. The principle of the concentration method described has been employed also in chromatographic experiments and can with appropriate modifications also be used in other electrophoretic methods, such as capillary electrophoresis.