利用互补核酸杂交富集金胶实现信号扩增的电化学凝血酶蛋白生物传感器研究

介绍了一种利用互补核酸杂交富集金胶实现信号扩增的蛋白质生物传感器. 以凝血酶蛋白为研究对象, 利用凝血酶蛋白相对应的两段核酸适配体, 将适配体Ⅰ固定在磁性颗粒上, 用于特异性地捕获蛋白, 将适配体Ⅱ标记金胶作为检测信标. 由凝血酶蛋白和相对应的两段核酸适配体构建三明治结构的凝血酶蛋白生物传感器. 另外, 再通过信标金胶上过剩的核酸适配体链与另一段标记有金胶的互补核酸进一步杂交, 获得金胶的选择性聚集, 实现了信号扩增. 通过信号扩增, 使此传感器的灵敏度大大提高, 对凝血酶蛋白的检测下限可达到4.52×10-15 mol/L. 平行测定浓度为7.47×10-14 mol/L的凝血酶8次, 其RSD为3.0%. 该生物传感器对凝血酶蛋白有很好的特异性, 其它蛋白如溶菌酶和牛血清白蛋白的存在对于检测没有影响.     

基于Ru(bpy)32+-SiO2纳米颗粒的核酸适配体传感器对凝血酶的电致化学发光检测

本文应用核酸适配体构建了一种新型的电致化学发光检测蛋白体系。两个核酸适配体结合凝血酶的两个不同位点,利用这两核酸适配体与凝血酶的高亲和力构建三明治传感体系检测凝血酶。一个核酸适配体固定在金电极上用来捕获凝血酶,另一个标记有包裹电致化学发光活性物Ru(bpy)₃²⁺的二氧化硅纳米颗粒,用来检测电致化学发光信号。此核酸适配体传感器对凝血酶具有特异识别性,电致化学发光信号与凝血酶的浓度直接相关,非特异性识别的牛血红蛋白、牛血清白蛋白不干扰测定。由于在检测的核酸适配体上标记的纳米颗粒包裹有多个发光活性物,因此大大提高了发光效率和灵敏度,此法对凝血酶的线性响应范围为2.0 fmol•L^-1～2.0 pmol•L^-1,检测限可达1.0 fmol•L^-1。     

核酸适配体-目标物的相互作用机理研究与生化传感应用

核酸适配体是一种单链寡聚核苷酸,可通过氢键、静电作用等次级键力与其目标物发生特异性结合,在生化传感检测等领域拥有良好的应用前景。然而当前对核酸适配体与其目标物相互作用机理的研究较为缺乏,成为限制核酸适配体相关领域的基础与应用研究的瓶颈。本文系统综述了核酸适配体与目标物相互作用机理的研究内容,并着重介绍了相关研究方法的原理与应用,包括等温滴定量热、微量热泳动、毛细管电泳、圆二色光谱、表面等离子共振、石英晶体微天平、原子力显微镜、分子对接与分子动力学等。而后,总结了基于核酸适配体-目标物相互作用机理的生化传感检测策略设计的方法与依据。最后,对核酸适配体-目标物相互作用机理研究的挑战与前景进行了展望。     

核酸适体与互补核酸和目标蛋白之间竞争结合的热力学特性研究

以一种基于目标蛋白凝血酶的取代反应来研究核酸适体与互补核酸和核酸适体与目标蛋白之间竞争结合的热力学特性, 研究了核酸适体-互补核酸的解离反应和在目标蛋白存在下取代反应的平衡常数、标准焓变和标准熵变等热力学参数, 结果表明该取代反应是一个熵驱动的自发过程, 熵驱动从双链的核酸转变为核酸适体-目标蛋白的复合物. 该热力学研究会对核酸适体-互补核酸和核酸适体-凝血酶之间的结合过程的机理有一个更深的理解, 将有助于进一步揭示核酸与蛋白这两种生命中最关键物质之间的相互作用和关系, 为更好地理解基本的生物过程和预测设计适体生物传感器, 发展用于疾病诊断的方法有着重要的意义.     

基于核酸适配体和纳米材料的凝血酶蛋白特异性识别电化学生物传感器

介绍了一种结合核酸适配体技术和纳米技术,以凝血酶蛋白为研究对象的高效、高灵敏、特异性识别蛋白质的电化学生物传感器. 利用金纳米颗粒标记的核酸适配体以及被固定在磁性纳米颗粒上的核酸适配体与凝血酶蛋白同时结合形成磁性颗粒/凝血酶/纳米金胶的三明治结构, 利用磁性分离, 将金胶纳米颗粒特异性地吸着到电极表面, 通过检测电极上金胶的电化学信号, 实现对凝血酶靶蛋白的检测. 这种生物传感器对凝血酶蛋白具有很高的特异性识别能力, 其检测不受其他蛋白质如牛血清白蛋白等存在的干扰, 可应用于实际血浆中凝血酶的检测. 由于利用磁性纳米颗粒使得分离、富集和测定在同一个自制的电化学反应池中进行, 其操作不仅简单, 而且检测的灵敏度得到提高. 该蛋白质生物传感器的线性范围为5.6×10^-12 ~ 1.12×10^-9 mol/L, 检测限可以达到1.42×10^-12 mol/L.     

基于主客体竞争模式的凝血酶适配体传感器的研究

基于β-环糊精(β-CD)主客体竞争模式,构建了开关型凝血酶适配体电化学传感器.将末端修饰了二茂铁(Fc)的核酸适配体通过与β-CD的主客体识别固定在金电极表面,当凝血酶存在时,适配体由原来的直立线状构型变为"G-四链体",远离电极表面,适配体探针的氧化还原电流强度减小,即"Signal-off".利用此效应对凝血酶进行了灵敏检测,结果表明,在5.0×10-13~5.0×10-9 mol/L浓度范围内,凝血酶的浓度与电化学响应信号呈良好的线性关系,检出限为2.0×10-13 mol/L(3σ).与其它蛋白分子相比,本方法对凝血酶蛋白的检测具有高特异性.本传感器构建简单,再生性好,为生物血清样本中凝血酶的实时高效检测提供了方法.     

基于磁珠分离的酶联适配体检测痕量蛋白质的新型比色分析方法

以核酸适配体作为高效专一的识别/传感元件, 构建了一种新型的磁性分离和特异性捕获的检测方法. 两个适配体通过简单的生物素化修饰, 利用其与凝血酶不同位点的高亲和力形成夹心结构, 其中连接适配体的磁珠可捕获蛋白质, 加入另一个适配体及链霉亲和素标记的辣根过氧化物酶后, 通过比色法实现靶蛋白检测. 该法操作简单, 分析时间短, 对凝血酶的线性响应范围为 10~80 nmol/L, 检出限为 10 nmol/L.     

毛细管区带电泳法考察牛凝血酶、核酸适配体与丹参活性分子间的相互作用

采用毛细管区带电泳法(CZE)研究牛凝血酶(B-Thr)、凝血酶核酸适配体(Apt29)与丹参中3种活性物质(丹参素钠(SAS)、原儿茶酸(PA)、阿魏酸(FA))间的相互作用。电泳条件为:毛细管长度40 cm,紫外检测波长214 nm,分离电压15 kV,压力进样3.45 kPa,进样时间5 s。分别固定3种活性药物分子的浓度,改变B-Thr或Apt29的浓度,采用Scatchard方程和非特异性结合方程计算结合常数(K_b),表征药物分子和B-Thr或Apt29的相互作用大小。结果表明,PA与B-Thr结合能力最强,K_b为3.39×104L/mol,FA与B-Thr的K_b为1.05×104L/mol,SAS与B-Thr未表现出结合能力;在与Apt29的相互作用的研究中显示,SAS基本未与Apt29结合,FA与Apt29结合能力强于PA与Apt29的结合能力,FA、PA与Apt29的K_b分别为1.48×104L/mol和1.32×104L/mol。该研究报道了丹参活性分子与B-Thr、Apt29的相互作用结果,可为核酸适配体(蛋白质)与中药分子相互作用的探索提供新方法,适配体与中药分子相互作用亦可为中药分子的靶点发现、靶向转运提供借鉴。     

核酸适配体功能化纳米复合材料用于靶向凝血酶的心血管疾病治疗

制备了一种核酸适配体功能化磁球/金纳米棒复合材料,该复合材料可以实现凝血酶活性的可逆调控。凝血酶与其一对核酸适配体基于邻近表面杂交技术可构建成闭环结构,这种闭环结构会使核酸适配体与凝血酶的结合作用增强,从而大大增强抑制效果;金纳米棒具有局部表面等离子体共振效应,在近红外光刺激下周围环境温度升高破坏了闭环结构并伴随着凝血酶的活性的恢复。利用监测散射变化和扫描电子显微镜等手段表征了酶活性的变化。人血清凝血时间的测定证明这种抑制与恢复方法具有非常好的临床应用前景。此外,模拟透析实验显示该方法还可应用于急性肾功能衰竭等疾病的血液滤过治疗的抗凝和解毒中。     

毛细管电泳法高效筛选8-氧代鸟嘌呤DNA糖基化酶的核酸适配体

8-氧代鸟嘌呤DNA糖基化酶(OGG1)是人体中重要的功能蛋白,在修复DNA氧化性损伤过程中起关键作用。氧化应激等引起的氧化损伤易导致炎症反应的发生,对OGG1的抑制可以一定程度上起到缓解作用;对癌细胞OGG1的抑制有望作为癌症治疗的新方法。目前的研究多集中于小分子对OGG1功能的影响和调控,而OGG1的适配体筛选尚未见报道。作为功能配体,适配体具有合成简单、高亲和力及高特异性等优点。该文筛选了OGG1的核酸适配体,结合毛细管电泳高效快速的优点建立了两种基于毛细管电泳-指数富集进化(CE-SELEX)技术的筛选方法:同步竞争法和多轮筛选法。同步竞争法利用单链结合蛋白(SSB)与核酸库中单链核酸的强结合能力,与目标蛋白OGG1组成竞争体系,并通过增加SSB浓度来增加竞争筛选压力,以去除与OGG1弱结合的核酸序列,一步筛选即可获得与OGG1强结合的核酸序列。多轮筛选法在相同孵育条件和电泳条件下,经3轮筛选获得OGG1的核酸适配体。比较两种筛选方法的筛选结果,筛选结果中频次最高的3条候选核酸适配体序列一致,其解离常数(K_D)值在1.71~2.64 μmol/L之间。分子对接分析结果表明候选适配体1(Apt 1)可能与OGG1中具有修复氧化性损伤功能的活性口袋结合。通过对两种筛选方法的对比,证明同步竞争法更加快速高效,对其他蛋白核酸适配体筛选方法的选择具有一定的指导意义。得到的适配体有望用于OGG1功能调控,以抑制其修复功能。     

Energy Landscape of Aptamer/Protein Complexes Studied by Single‐Molecule Force Spectroscopy

Aptamers are single‐stranded nucleic acid molecules selected in vitro to bind to a variety of target molecules. Aptamers bound to proteins are emerging as a new class of molecules that rival commonly used antibodies in both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. With the increasing application of aptamers as molecular probes for protein recognition, it is important to understand the molecular mechanism of aptamer–protein interaction. Recently, we developed a method of using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study the single‐molecule rupture force of aptamer/protein complexes. In this work, we investigate further the unbinding dynamics of aptamer/protein complexes and their dissociation‐energy landscape by AFM. The dependence of single‐molecule force on the AFM loading rate was plotted for three aptamer/protein complexes and their dissociation rate constants, and other parameters characterizing their dissociation pathways were obtained. Furthermore, the single‐molecule force spectra of three aptamer/protein complexes were compared to those of the corresponding antibody/protein complexes in the same loading‐rate range. The results revealed two activation barriers and one intermediate state in the unbinding process of aptamer/protein complexes, which is different from the energy landscape of antibody/protein complexes. The results provide new information for the study of aptamer–protein interaction at the molecular level.     

Direct Measurement of Through-Bond Effects in Molecular Multivalent Interactions

Multivalent interactions occur throughout biology, and have a number of characteristics that monovalent interactions do not. However, it remains challenging to directly measure the binding force of molecular multivalent interactions and identify the mechanism of interactions. In this study, the specific interaction between bivalent aptamer and thrombin has been measured directly and quantitatively by force-induced remnant magnetization spectroscopy to investigate the binding force and through-bond effects of the multivalent interactions. The measured differential binding forces enable through-bond effects in thrombin–aptamer complexes to be identified, where aptamer binding at exosite II produces visible effects on their binding at exosite I and vice versa. This method might be suitable for practical applications in the design of high-performance ligands.     

Investigation of the interaction between a bivalent aptamer and thrombin by AFM

Aptamers are a new class of molecular probes for protein recognition, detection, and inhibition. Multivalent aptamer-protein binding through aptamer assembly has been currently developed as an effective way to achieve higher protein affinity and selectivity. In this study, the specific interaction between bivalent aptamer Bi-8S and thrombin has been measured directly and quantitatively by atomic force microscopy to investigate the unbinding dynamics and dissociation energy landscape of the multivalent interaction. Bivalent aptamer Bi-8S contains thrombin's two aptamers, 15apt and 27apt, which are linked by eight spacer phosphoramidites. The results revealed the sequential dissociation of the two aptamers. Moreover, the dynamic force spectroscopy data revealed that the 27apt's binding to the thrombin remains largely unaffected by the eight-spacer phosphoramidites within Bi-8S. In contrast, the eight-spacer phosphoramidites stabilized the 15apt-thrombin binding.     

Novel application of fluorescence coupled capillary electrophoresis to resolve the interaction between the G‐quadruplex aptamer and thrombin

The dynamic binding status between the thrombin and its G‐quadruplex aptamers and the stability of its interaction partners were probed using our previously established fluorescence‐coupled capillary electrophoresis method. A 29‐nucleic acid thrombin binding aptamer was chosen as a model to study its binding affinity with the thrombin ligand. First, the effects of the cations on the formation of G‐quadruplex from unstructured 29‐nucleic acid thrombin binding aptamer were examined. Second, the rapid binding kinetics between the thrombin and 6‐carboxyfluorescein labeled G‐quadruplex aptamer was measured. Third, the stability of G‐quadruplex aptamer–thrombin complex was also examined in the presence of the interfering species. Remarkably, it was found that the complementary strand of 29‐nucleic acid thrombin binding aptamer could compete with G‐quadruplex aptamer and thus disassociated the G‐quadruplex structure into an unstructured aptamer. These data suggest that our in‐house established fluorescence‐coupled capillary electrophoresis assay could be applied to binding studies of the G‐quadruplex aptamers, thrombin, and their ligands, while overcoming the complicated and costly approaches currently available.     

An Aptamer‐Based Protein Biosensor by Detecting the Amplified Impedance Signal

A label‐free electrochemical impedance based protein biosensor was introduced by using aptamer as recognition tool. Our sensing protocol utilizes the affinity interaction between the thrombin and the self‐assembled DNA aptamer on gold electrode. This specific interaction increases the electrode interfacial electronic transfer resistance. The resistance signal is then “amplified” by using guanidine hydrochloride to denature the captured thrombin for increasing the hydrated radius of the thrombin, consequently blocking the electron transfer from solution to electrode. The sensor sensitivity is improved using this strategy and as low as 1.0×10^?14 mol L^?1 thrombin (enzymatic activity 10 U/mg) can be detected out.     

Ultrasensitive detection based on an aptamer beacon electron transfer chain

The construction of an ultrasensitive, reagentless, target label free electrochemical aptamer sensor (aptasensor) for thrombin detection is described. The aptasensor is based on a chronoamperometric beacon system for biomolecular recognition. The ferrocene-labeled aptamer adopts a 3-D conformational change when interacts with thrombin. Thus the ferrocene label is approached to the microperoxise-11 (MP-11) attached on the electrode surface. The thrombin–aptamer interaction is detected via a microperoxidase mediated electron transfer between the ferrocene and the surface. This system was demonstrated with surface plasmon resonance, impedance spectroscopy and chronoamperometry measurements, obtaining higher sensitivity (30 fM) with impedance spectroscopy.     

Aptamer‐based thrombin assay on microfluidic platform

A facile and sensitive aptamer‐based protocol has been developed for protein assay on microfluidic platform with fluorescence detection using an off‐chip microarray scanner. Aptamer‐functionalized magnetic beads were used to capture thrombin that binds to a second aptamer fluorescently labeled by Cy3. Experimental conditions, such as incubation time and temperature, washing time, interfering proteins, and aptamer, etc., were optimized for the microchip method. This work demonstrated there was a good relationship between fluorescence intensity and thrombin concentration in the range of 65–1000 ng/mL with the RSD less than 8%. Notably, an analysis only needs 1 μL volume of sample injection and this system can capture extremely tiny amount thrombin (0.4 fmol). This method has been successfully applied to assay of thrombin in human serum with the recovery of 79.74–95.94%.     

化学力显微镜对自组装单分子膜的力滴定研究

The concept of force titration was firstly proposed based on the technique of Chemical Force Microscopy (CFM). Self-Assembled Monolayer (SAM) on substrate surface can be titrated with buffer solutions at a nanometer scale by measuring the adhesion force between the SAM-modified substrate and probe tip. The plot of adhesion force vs pH value was termed as force titration curve. As an example, the titration behavior of w-mercaptoundecanoic acid monolayer on gold has been studied. It was found that there is a big hump around pH 5~6 in its force titration curve. Taking the contact angle titration result together, an interaction model for the monolayer was suggested from the chemical hysteresis point of view.     

Highly sensitive detection of human thrombin in serum by affinity capillary electrophoresis/laser-induced fluorescence polarization using aptamers as probes

The detection and quantification of disease-related proteins play critical roles in clinical practice and diagnostic assays. We present an affinity probe capillary electrophoresis/laser-induced fluorescence polarization (APCE/LIFP) assay for detection of human thrombin using a specific aptamer as probe. In the APCE/LIFP assay, the mobility and fluorescence polarization of complex are measured simultaneously during CE analysis. The affinity complex of human thrombin can be well separated from unbound aptamer on CE and clearly identified on the basis of its fluorescence polarization and migration. Because of the binding favorable G-quartet conformation potentially involved in the specific aptamer, it was assumed that monovalent and bivalent cations promoting the formation of a stable G quadruplex conformation in the aptamer may enhance the binding of the aptamer and thrombin. Therefore, we investigated the effects of various metal cations on the binding of human thrombin and the aptamer. Our results show that cations like K⁺ and Mg²⁺ could not stabilize the affinity complex. Without the use of typical cations, a highly sensitive assay of human thrombin was developed with the corresponding detection limits of 4.38 × 10⁻¹⁹ and 2.94 × 10⁻¹⁹ mol in mass for standard solution and human serum, respectively.     

Surface‐Charge Differentiation of Streptavidin and Avidin by Atomic Force Microscopy–Force Spectroscopy

Chemical information can be obtained by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and force spectroscopy (FS) with atomic or molecular resolution, even in liquid media. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that single molecules of avidin and streptavidin anchored to a biotinylated bilayer can be differentiated by using AFM, even though AFM topographical images of the two proteins are remarkably alike. At physiological pH, the basic glycoprotein avidin is positively charged, whereas streptavidin is a neutral protein. This charge difference can be determined with AFM, which can probe electrostatic double‐layer forces by using FS. The force curves, owing to the electrostatic interaction, show major differences when measured on top of each protein as well as on the lipid substrate. FS data show that the two proteins are negatively charged. Nevertheless, avidin and streptavidin can be clearly distinguished, thus demonstrating the sensitivity of AFM to detect small changes in the charge state of macromolecules.