Recent advances in solid-phase peptide synthesis and preparation of antibodies to synthetic peptides

Peptides prepared by the solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) approach are used increasingly in biological research, for instance to elicit anti-peptide antibodies that will recognize the intact, cognate protein. Recent advances in SPPS are reviewed, including the use of new coupling reagents, new methods for evaluating peptide purity and new techniques of automated and multiple peptide synthesis. Methods for enhancing peptide immunogenicity are discussed such as the use of adjuvants and liposomes, and of synthetic branched polypeptides as carriers.     

Recent advances in molecular recognition and signal transduction of active peptides: Receptors for opioid peptides

Summary 1. Opioid peptides are a family of structurally related neuromodulators which play a major role in the control of nociceptive pathways. These peptides act through membrane receptors of the nervous system, defined as, and and endowed with overlaping but distinct pharmacological, anatomical and functional properties.2. Recent cloning of an opioid receptor gene family has opened the way to the use of recombinant DNA technology at the receptor level.3. This review focuses on the molecular cloning and functional characterization of opioid receptors and provides first insights into molecular aspects of opioid peptide recognition and signal transduction mechanisms, using the cloned receptors as investigation tools.     

Ablation surgery for atrial fibrillation: "freeze it or buzz it; just do it and cure it"

Patients in normal sinus rhythm have lesser stroke rate, better functional class and quality of life than those in atrial fibrillation. Adding a surgical procedure to cure atrial fibrillation in patients needing correction of structural heart disease has been shown to be a safe option, which benefits the majority in restoration of sinus rhythm. Age is no bar to implement this option. The same does not hold true for lone atrial fibrillation. The affirm trial has shown that there is need for improved treatment strategies for patients in atrial fibrillation, although young patients were not represented in sizable proportion. There is need to develop curative treatment for patients with lone atrial fibrillation. And there are technological advances in the form of ablative energy sources and hardware for applying these with minimal invasion. "Between tomorrow's dream and yesterday's regret is today's opportunity". Let's make the best of it!     

Recent advances in early-onset severe retinal degeneration: more than just basic research

Successful treatment of early-onset sever retinal degeneration (EOSRD) in an animal model of the disease has provided the first proof-o-principle for retinal gene therapy of higher mammals. Currently, large sets of DNA samples are screened to identify patients with Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA) carrying mutations in RPE65 as possible candidates for gene therapy trials. Research into EOSRD and LCA aims to identify the function of proteins involved or phenotypic changes upon mutation. These data will be used to describe the disease phenotype and identify parameters that can predict the outcome of gene therapy trials.     

Recent advances in the construction of nanozyme-based logic gates

Nanozymes,nanomaterials with enzyme-like activity,have been considered as promising alternatives of natural enzymes.Molecular logic gates,which can simulate the...     

Recent advances in the design and performance of research assistants

Every laboratory needs personnel who work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, are efficient, obedient, capable of showing initiative, insightful and affable. Our experience of laboratory workers tells us that there is an immense way to go to achieve these goals. Having tired of the normal, Darwinian approach, a project has been initiated to achieve these ends through genetic technologies.     

Embryogeny of gymnosperms: advances in synthetic seed technology of conifers

Synthetic seed technology requires the inexpensive production of large numbers of high-quality somatic embryos. Proliferating embryogenic cultures from conifers consist of immature embryos, which undergo synchronous maturation in the presence of abscisic acid and elevated osmoticum. Improvements in conifer somatic embryo quality have been achieved by identifying the conditions in vitro that resemble the conditions during in ovulo development of zygotic embryos. One normal aspect of zygotic embryo development for conifers is maturation drying, which allows seeds to be stored and promotes normal germination. Conditions of culture are described that yield mature conifer somatic embryos that possess normal storage proteins and fatty acids and which survive either partial drying, or full drying to moisture contents similar to those achieved by mature dehydrated zygotic embryos. Large numbers of quiescent somatic embryos can be produced throughout the year and stored for germination in the spring, which simplifies production and provides plants of uniform size. This review focuses on recent advances in conifer somatic embryogenesis and synthetic seed technology, particularly in areas of embryo development, maturation drying, encapsulation and germination. Comparisons of conifer embryogeny are made with other gymnosperms and angiosperms.Abbreviations ABA abscisic acid - LEA late embryogenesis abundant - PEG polyethylene glycol - PGR plant growth regulator - RH relative humidity - TAG triacylglycerol     

Recent advances and opportunities in synthetic logic gates engineering in living cells

Recently, a number of synthetic biologic gates including AND, OR, NOR, NOT, XOR and NAND have been engineered and characterized in a wide range of hosts. The hope in the emerging synthetic biology community is to construct an inventory of well-characterized parts and install distinct gene and circuit behaviours that are externally controllable. Though the field is still growing and major successes are yet to emerge, the payoffs are predicted to be significant. In this review, we highlight specific examples of logic gates engineering with applications towards fundamental understanding of network complexity and generating a novel socially useful applications.     

Recent advances in extracellular vesicle research for urological cancers: From technology to application

Urological malignancies, including prostate cancer, bladder cancer and kidney cancer, are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Because of the high incidence, diversity in biology, and especially direct interaction with urine, urological cancers are an important resource for both scientists and clinicians for novel diagnostic and therapeutic discovery. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer encapsulated particles released by cells into the extracellular space. Since EVs work as a safe way to transport important biological information through the whole body, they are now recognized as an important mechanism of cell–cell communication and have opened a new window for us to gain a better understanding of cancer biology, novel diagnostics, and therapeutic options. In recent years, numerous evolutions in EV technologies and novel biological and clinical findings continue to be reported in the research field of urological cancers. This comprehensive review aims to give an update of recent advances in EV technologies and summarize the state-of-the-art knowledge of EVs related to prostate cancer, bladder cancer and kidney cancer, particularly focusing on the potential of EV as biomarkers and their biological roles in promoting cancer and metastasis.     

Recent advances in mammalian RFamide peptides: the discovery and functional analyses of PrRP, RFRPs and QRFP

Since the first discovery of a peptide with RFamide structure at its C-terminus (i.e., an RFamide peptide) from an invertebrate in 1977, numerous studies on RFamide peptides have been conducted, and a variety have been identified in various phyla throughout the animal kingdom. The first reported mammalian RFamide peptides were neuropeptide FF (NPFF) and neuropeptide AF (NPAF) in 1985. However, for many years after this, no new novel RFamide peptides were identified in mammals. A breakthrough in discovering mammalian RFamide peptides was made possible by reverse pharmacology on the basis of orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) research. The first report of an RFamide peptide identified from orphan GPCR research was prolactin (PRL)-releasing peptide (PrRP) in 1998. To date, a total of five RFamide peptide genes have been discovered in mammals. Orphan GPCR research has contributed considerably to the identification of these peptides and their receptor genes. This paper examines these mammalian RFamide peptides focusing especially on PrRP, RFamide-related peptides (RFRPs) and, the most recently identified, pyroglutamylated RFamide peptide (QRFP), the discovery of all of which the authors were at least partly involved in. We review here the strategies employed for the identification of these peptides and examine their characteristics, tissue distribution, receptors and functions.     

Recent advances in the synthesis,design and selection of cysteine protease inhibitors

Inhibition of cysteine proteases is emerging as an important strategy for the treatment of a variety of human diseases. Intense efforts involving structure-based inhibitor design have been directed toward several cysteine proteases, including cathepsin K, calpain, human rhinovirus 3C protease and several parasitic cysteine protease targets. Other successful recent efforts have involved combinatorial synthesis and screening for identification of new inhibitor templates.     

Recent advances in enantiomer separations by affinity capillary electrophoresis using proteins and peptides

Enantiomer separations by capillary electrophoresis (CE), using proteins as chiral selectors--affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE) with free solutions and capillary electrochromatography (CEC)--with protein immobilized capillaries, are reviewed. The separation principle, recent advances in this field and some interesting topics are presented. In ACE, various enantiomer separations have been already reported using either plasma proteins or egg white ones. Miscellaneous proteins were also explored in the last few years. On the contrary, only a limited number of enantiomer separations have been successfully achieved in CEC. CEC is not yet mature enough to date, and further investigations, such as efficiency, durability and reproducibility of capillaries, will be necessary for the use of routine analyses. The study of enantioselective drug-protein binding is important in pharmaceutical developments. Some applications including high-performance CE/frontal analysis (HPCE/FA) are introduced in this paper.     

Toolboxes for cyanobacteria: Recent advances and future direction

Photosynthetic cyanobacteria are important primary producers and model organisms for studying photosynthesis and elements cycling on earth. Due to the ability to absorb sunlight and utilize carbon dioxide, cyanobacteria have also been proposed as renewable chassis for carbon-neutral “microbial cell factories”. Recent progresses on cyanobacterial synthetic biology have led to the successful production of more than two dozen of fuels and fine chemicals directly from CO₂, demonstrating their potential for scale-up application in the future. However, compared with popular heterotrophic chassis like Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where abundant genetic tools are available for manipulations at levels from single gene, pathway to whole genome, limited genetic tools are accessible to cyanobacteria. Consequently, this significant technical hurdle restricts both the basic biological researches and further development and application of these renewable systems. Though still lagging the heterotrophic chassis, the vital roles of genetic tools in tuning of gene expression, carbon flux re-direction as well as genome-wide manipulations have been increasingly recognized in cyanobacteria. In recent years, significant progresses on developing and introducing new and efficient genetic tools have been made for cyanobacteria, including promoters, riboswitches, ribosome binding site engineering, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated nuclease (CRISPR/Cas) systems, small RNA regulatory tools and genome-scale modeling strategies. In this review, we critically summarize recent advances on development and applications as well as technical limitations and future directions of the genetic tools in cyanobacteria. In addition, toolboxes feasible for using in large-scale cultivation are also briefly discussed.     

Micropatterning proteins and synthetic peptides on solid supports: a novel application for microelectronics fabrication technology.

In this paper, we describe a method for immobilizing proteins and synthesizing peptides in micrometer-dimension patterns on solid supports. Microelectronics fabrication technology was adapted and used to lithographically direct the location of immobilization of proteins on appropriately derivatized surfaces. As examples, we micropatterned the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The catalytic activity of HRP was shown to be retained after being cross-linked to the support. When coupled with solid-phase peptide synthesis, the technique allowed synthetic peptides to be constructed in patterns again having micrometer dimensions. Synthetic polypeptides, polylysine, were constructed in patterns with dimensions that approached the practical limit of resolution for optical lithography at 1-2 microns. The patterns of immobilized molecules and synthetic peptides were visualized using histochemical methods together with light and fluorescence microscopy. The protein and peptide patterning technique described here is an advance in the field of bioelectronics. In particular, it should now be possible to devise novel methods for interfacing with biological systems and constructing new devices for incorporation into miniaturized biosensors.     

Recent advances in cryptosporidiosis: the immune response

An increased understanding of host immune responses to Cryptosporidium parvum which are responsible for clearance of primary infection and resistance to reinfection, and characterization of the parasite molecules to which they are directed, are essential for discovery of effective active and passive immunization strategies against cryptosporidiosis. In this article, recent advances in knowledge of humoral and cellular immune responses to C. parvum, their antigen specificities, and mechanisms of protection are briefly reviewed.     

Recent advances in the development of biosensor for phenol: a review

Phenol and its derivatives are widespread contaminants whose sources are both natural and industrial. Phenol is massively produced and used as a starting material for synthetic polymers and fibers. Although phenolic compounds play important biochemical and physiological roles in living systems, their accumulation in the environment as a result of intensive human activity may result in drastic ecological problem. Various analytical techniques are available for the detection of phenol in environmental samples. But they need complex sample pre-treatment so as are time consuming, costly and use heavy devices. On the other hand a biosensor is a device that gives rapid detection, cost effective and easy. A review study was carried out to accumulate the possible biosensors for the detection of phenolic compounds in environmental samples. A number of biological components including microorganisms, enzymes, antibodies, antigens, nucleic acids etc. can be used for the construction of biosensors that was found to detect phenolic compounds. Of all type of biological components microorganisms and enzymes are mostly used. The microorganisms are Pseudomonas, Moraxella, Arthrobacter, Rhodococcus, and Trichosporon. The most used enzymes are tyrosinase, peroxidase, laccase, glucose dehydrogenase, cellobiose dehydrogenase etc. Antibody sensors can detect a very trace level. The biorecognition of DNA biosensors occur by hybridization of DNA. Biosensors are found to work well when the biological sensing element is immobilized. A variety of immobilization techniques were found to use as adsorption, covalent binding, entrapment, cross-linking etc. For immobilization the matrices used was polyvinyl alcohol, Osmium complex, nafion/sol?Cgel silicate, chitosan, silica gel etc.