A simple,real-time assay of horseradish peroxidase using biolayer interferometry

ABSTRACT

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) isoenzyme C1a is one of the most widely used enzymes for various analytical methods in bioscience research and medical fields. In these fields, real-time monitoring of HRP activity is highly desirable because the utility of HRP as a reporter enzyme would be expanded. In this study, we developed a simple assay system enabling real-time monitoring of HRP activity by using biolayer interferometry (BLI). The HRP activity was quantitatively detected on a BLI sensor chip by tracing a binding response of tyramide, a substrate of HRP, onto an immobilized protein. This system could be applied to analyses related to oxidase activity, as well as to the functional analysis of recombinant HRP.     

Measuring the effects of macromolecular crowding on antibody function with biolayer interferometry

ABSTRACT

Biotherapeutic proteins are commonly dosed at high concentrations into the blood, which is an inherently complex, crowded solution with substantial protein content. The effects of macromolecular crowding may lead to an appreciable level of non-specific hetero-association in this physiological environment. Therefore, developing a method to characterize the diverse consequences of non-specific interactions between proteins under such non-ideal, crowded conditions, which deviate substantially from those commonly employed for in vitro characterization, is vital to achieving a more complete picture of antibody function in a biological context. In this study, we investigated non-specific interactions between human serum albumin (HSA) and two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) by static light scattering and determined these interactions are both ionic strength-dependent and mAb-dependent. Using biolayer interferometry (BLI), we assessed the effect of HSA on antigen binding by mAbs, demonstrating that these non-specific interactions have a functional impact on mAb:antigen interactions, particularly at low ionic strength. While this effect is mitigated at physiological ionic strength, our in vitro data support the notion that HSA in the blood may lead to non-specific interactions with mAbs in vivo, with a potential impact on their interactions with antigen. Furthermore, the BLI method offers a high-throughput advantage compared to orthogonal techniques such as analytical ultracentrifugation and is amenable to a greater variety of solution conditions compared to nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Our study demonstrates that BLI is a viable technology for examining the impact of non-specific interactions on specific biologically relevant interactions, providing a direct method to assess binding events in crowded conditions.     

The strengths and limitations of using biolayer interferometry to monitor equilibrium titrations of biomolecules

Every method used to quantify biomolecular interactions has its own strengths and limitations. To quantify protein‐DNA binding affinities, nitrocellulose filter binding assays with ³²P‐labeled DNA quantify K_d values from 10^?12 to 10^?8 M but have several technical limitations. Here, we considered the suitability of biolayer interferometry (BLI), which monitors association and dissociation of a soluble macromolecule to an immobilized species; the ratio k_off/k_on determines K_d. However, for lactose repressor protein (LacI) and an engineered repressor protein (“LLhF”) binding immobilized DNA, complicated kinetic curves precluded this analysis. Thus, we determined whether the amplitude of the BLI signal at equilibrium related linearly to the fraction of protein bound to DNA. A key question was the effective concentration of immobilized DNA. Equilibrium titration experiments with DNA concentrations below K_d (equilibrium binding regime) must be analyzed differently than those with DNA near or above K_d (stoichiometric binding regime). For ForteBio streptavidin tips, the most frequent effective DNA concentration was ~2 × 10^?9 M. Although variation occurred among different lots of sensor tips, binding events with K_d ≥ 10^?8 M should reliably be in the equilibrium binding regime. We also observed effects from multi‐valent interactions: Tetrameric LacI bound two immobilized DNAs whereas dimeric LLhF did not. We next used BLI to quantify the amount of inducer sugars required to allosterically diminish protein‐DNA binding and to assess the affinity of fructose‐1‐kinase for the DNA‐LLhF complex. Overall, when experimental design corresponded with appropriate data interpretation, BLI was convenient and reliable for monitoring equilibrium titrations and thereby quantifying a variety of binding interactions.     

Molecular species analysis of lipids by metastable ion mass spectrometry

A convenient universal and fast mass spectrometrical method designed for the molecular species analysis of natural lipids is described. In contrast to the commonly employed procedures the method does not require chemical or enzymatic treatment and does not include chromatographic steps. The method relies on the recognition of ions characteristic of individual molecular species in the mass spectrum of a particular lipid fraction, that is accomplished on the basis of metastable ion spectra. The efficiency of this approach is demonstrated with a variety of natural lipids: triglycerides, glycerophospholipids, sphingomyelin and ornithinolipids. The advantages and limitations of the method as well as possible further developments are discussed.     

Molecular histoproteomy by MALDI mass spectrometry imaging to uncover markers of the impact of Nosema on Apis mellifera

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI IMS) is a powerful technology used to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of a huge number of molecules throughout a body/tissue section. In this paper, we report the use of MALDI IMS to follow the molecular impact of an experimental infection of Apis mellifera with the microsporidia Nosema ceranae. We performed representative molecular mass fingerprints of selected tissues obtained by dissection. This was followed by MALDI IMS workflows optimization including specimen embedding and positioning as well as washing and matrix application. We recorded the local distribution of peptides/proteins within different tissues from experimentally infected versus non infected honeybees. As expected, a distinction in these molecular profiles between the two conditions was recorded from different anatomical sections of the gut tissue. More importantly, we observed differences in the molecular profiles in the brain, thoracic ganglia, hypopharyngeal glands, and hemolymph. We introduced MALDI IMS as an effective approach to monitor the impact of N. ceranae infection on A. mellifera. This opens perspectives for the discovery of molecular changes in peptides/proteins markers that could contribute to a better understanding of the impact of stressors and toxicity on different tissues of a bee in a single experiment.     

糖链的生物质谱分析

糖链是重要的生物信息分子,在许多生理和病理过程中都发挥着独特作用。糖链结构非常复杂,具有微观不均一性,其分析和结构解析一直是糖生物学研究的瓶颈。质谱具有灵敏度高、可获得多种结构信息和适于分析混合物等优点,是糖链定性定量分析的一种理想手段。电喷雾电离质谱和基质辅助激光解析电离质谱两大生物质谱技术已被广泛应用于糖链的相对分子质量指纹谱分析、序列和连接方式测定及相对定量分析。对近年来以质谱为主要分析手段的糖链分析方法研究进展做一综述。     

Biolayer interferometry of lipid nanodisc‐reconstituted yeast vacuolar H+‐ATPase

Vacuolar H⁺‐ATPase (V‐ATPase) is a large, multisubunit membrane protein complex responsible for the acidification of subcellular compartments and the extracellular space. V‐ATPase activity is regulated by reversible disassembly, resulting in cytosolic V₁‐ATPase and membrane‐integral V₀ proton channel sectors. Reversible disassembly is accompanied by transient interaction with cellular factors and assembly chaperones. Quantifying protein‐protein interactions involving membrane proteins, however, is challenging. Here we present a novel method to determine kinetic constants of membrane protein–protein interactions using biolayer interferometry (BLI). Yeast vacuoles are solubilized, vacuolar proteins are reconstituted into lipid nanodiscs with native vacuolar lipids and biotinylated membrane scaffold protein (MSP) followed by affinity purification of nanodisc‐reconstituted V‐ATPase (V₁V₀ND). We show that V₁V₀ND can be immobilized on streptavidin‐coated BLI sensors to quantitate binding of a pathogen derived inhibitor and to measure the kinetics of nucleotide dependent enzyme dissociation.     

A multimodal metabolomics approach using imaging mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for spatially characterizing monoterpene indole alkaloids secreted from roots

Plants release specialized (secondary) metabolites from their roots to communicate with other organisms, including soil microorganisms. The spatial behavior of such metabolites around these roots can help us understand roles for the communication; however, currently, they are unclear because soil-based studies are complex. Here, we established a multimodal metabolomics approach using imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to spatially assign metabolites under laboratory conditions using agar. In a case study using Catharanthus roseus, we showed that 58 nitrogen (N)-containing metabolites are released from the roots into the agar. For the metabolite assignment, we used ¹⁵N-labeled and non-labeled LC-MS/MS data, previously reported. Four metabolite ions were identified using authentic standard compounds as derived from monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs) such as ajmalicine, catharanthine, serpentine, and yohimbine. An alkaloid network analysis using dot products and spinglass methods characterized five clusters to which the 58 ions belong. The analysis clustered ions from the indolic skeleton-type MIAs to a cluster, suggesting that other communities may represent distinct metabolite groups. For future chemical assignments of the serpentine community, key fragmentation patterns were characterized using the ¹⁵N-labeled and non-labeled MS/MS spectra.     

生物质谱与蛋白质组学

蛋白质组学是后基因组学时代最受关注的研究领域之一,其核心的鉴定技术——生物质谱近年来在仪器设计以及鉴定通量、分辨率和灵敏度等各方面均有质的飞跃,促进了蛋白质表达谱作图、定量蛋白质组分析、亚细胞器蛋白质组作图、蛋白质翻译后修饰以及蛋白质相互作用等蛋白质组研究各个领域的飞速发展。本综述了生物质谱技术的最新进展,及其在蛋白质组学研究中的应用。     

Pyrolysis mass spectrometry analysis of free-living and symbiotic cyanobacteria

The potential of pyrolysis mass spectrometry to distinguish closely related cyanobacterial strains was assessed by using the technique to compare symbiotic cyanobacteria isolated from the hornwort Phaeoceros laevis and free-living cyanobacterial strains at the same field site. The same strains had previously been compared using polymerase chain reaction-based DNA fingerprinting techniques (West & Adams 1997, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63: 4479–4484). Many of the strains were grouped identically by the two techniques, although there were some differences, possibly resulting from the ability of these cyanobacteria to develop a range of specialised cell types having different chemical compositions to the vegetative cells. Although growth conditions were chosen to suppress cellular differentiation, this may not always have been completely successful. With careful control of growth conditions pyrolysis mass spectrometry has considerable potential as an additional tool for the phenetic comparison of cyanobacterial strains. It has the advantage that analysis is directly derived from whole cells, and hence is simpler and cheaper than DNA-based methods, although it does require the growth of axenic strains. The technique may be particularly useful in the study of some of the more cryptic unicellular and non-heterocystous filamentous cyanobacterial groups, in which the lack of cellular differentiation should minimise any variability in the chemical composition of cells.     

Study of a noncovalent trp repressor: DNA operator complex by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF MS) has been used to study noncovalent interactions between the trp apo-repressor (TrpR), its co-repressor tryptophan and its specific operator DNA. In 5 mM ammonium acetate, TrpR was detected as a partially unfolded monomer. In the presence of a 21-base-pair DNA possessing the two symmetrically arranged CTAG consensus sequences required for specific TrpR binding, a homodimer-dsDNA complex with a 1:1 stoichiometry was observed. Co-repressor was not needed for the complex to form under our experimental conditions. Collision induced dissociation (CID-MS) revealed that this complex was very stable in the gas phase since dissociation was achieved only at energies that also broke covalent bonds. We saw no evidence for the presence of the six water molecules that mediate the interaction between the protein and the DNA in the crystal structure. To check the binding specificity of the TrpR for its target DNA, a competitive experiment was undertaken: the protein was mixed with an equimolar amount of three different DNAs in which the two CTAG sequences were separated by 2, 4, and 6 bp, respectively. Only the DNA with the correct consensus spacing of 4 bp was able to form stable interactions with TrpR. This experiment demonstrates the potential of ESI-MS to test the sequence-specificity of protein-DNA complexes. The interactions between the TrpR-DNA complex and 5-methyl-, L- and D-tryptophan were also investigated. Two molecules of 5-methyl- or L-tryptophan were bound with high affinity to the TrpR-DNA complex. On the other hand, D-tryptophan appeared to bind to the complex with poor specificity and poor affinity.     

MassBase: A large-scaled depository of mass spectrometry datasets for metabolome analysis

Depository of low-molecular-weight compounds or metabolites detected in various organisms in a non-targeted manner is indispensable for metabolomics research. Due to the diverse chemical compounds, various mass spectrometry (MS) setups with state-of-the-art technologies have been used. Over the past two decades, we have analyzed various biological samples by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, or capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry, and archived the datasets in the depository MassBase (http://webs2.kazusa.or.jp/massbase/). As the format of MS datasets depends on the MS setup used, we converted each raw binary dataset of the mass chromatogram to text file format, and thereafter, information of the chromatograph peak was extracted in the text file from the converted file. In total, the depository comprises 46,493 datasets, of which 38,750 belong to the plant species and 7,743 are authentic or mixed chemicals as well as other sources (microorganisms, animals, and foods), as on August 1, 2020. All files in the depository can be downloaded in bulk from the website. Mass chromatograms of 90 plant species obtained by LC-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance MS or Orbitrap MS, which detect the ionized molecules with high accuracy allowing speculation of chemical compositions, were converted to text files by the software PowerGet, and the chemical annotation of each peak was added. The processed datasets were deposited in the annotation database KomicMarket2 (http://webs2.kazusa.or.jp/km2/). The archives provide fundamental resources for comparative metabolomics and functional genomics, which may result in deeper understanding of living organisms.     

Analysis of sulfates on low molecular weight heparin using mass spectrometry: structural characterization of enoxaparin

Introduction: Structural characterization of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is critical to meet biosimilarity standards. In this context, the review focuses on structural analysis of labile sulfates attached to the side-groups of LMWH using mass spectrometry. A comprehensive review of this topic will help readers to identify key strategies for tackling the problem related to sulfate loss. At the same time, various mass spectrometry techniques are presented to facilitate compositional analysis of LMWH, mainly enoxaparin.

Areas covered: This review summarizes findings on mass spectrometry application for LMWH, including modulation of sulfates, using enzymology and sample preparation approaches. Furthermore, popular open-source software packages for automated spectral data interpretation are also discussed. Successful use of LC/MS can decipher structural composition for LMWH and help evaluate their sameness or biosimilarity with the innovator molecule. Overall, the literature has been searched using PubMed by typing various search queries such as ‘enoxaparin’, ‘mass spectrometry’, ‘low molecular weight heparin’, ‘structural characterization’, etc.

Expert commentary: This section highlights clinically relevant areas that need improvement to achieve satisfactory commercialization of LMWHs. It also primarily emphasizes the advancements in instrumentation related to mass spectrometry, and discusses building automated software for data interpretation and analysis.     

SHAMS: Combining chemical modification of RNA with mass spectrometry to examine polypurine tract-containing RNA/DNA hybrids

Selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) has gained popularity as a facile method of examining RNA structure both in vitro and in vivo, exploiting accessibility of the ribose 2′-OH to acylation by N-methylisatoic anhydride (NMIA) in unpaired or flexible configurations. Subsequent primer extension terminates at the site of chemical modification, and these products are fractionated by high-resolution gel electrophoresis. When applying SHAPE to investigate structural features associated with the wild-type and analog-substituted polypurine tract (PPT)–containing RNA/DNA hybrids, their size (20–25 base pairs) rendered primer extension impractical. As an alternative method of detection, we reasoned that chemical modification could be combined with tandem mass spectrometry, relying on the mass increment of RNA fragments containing the NMIA adduct (M_r = 133 Da). Using this approach, we demonstrate both specific modification of the HIV-1 PPT RNA primer and variations in its acylation pattern induced by replacing template nucleotides with a non-hydrogen-bonding thymine isostere. Our selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by mass spectrometry strategy (SHAMS) should find utility when examining the structure of small RNA fragments or RNA/DNA hybrids where primer extension cannot be performed.     

微生物学研究中的软电离质谱技术

包括基质辅助激光解吸电离（ＭＡＬＤＩ）和电喷雾（ＥＳＩ）在内的软电离质谱是最近发展起来的质谱技术,由于这些电离方式对样品的破坏性小,质量测定范围大,分子量测定准确,样品纯度要求不高很适合分析成分复杂的微生物样品,ＭＡＬＩＤＩ－ＴＯＦ－ＭＳ结合高分辨率的二维ＳＤＳ－ＰＡＧＥ可以分析１０＾－１２摩尔水平的蛋白,是细菌蛋白质研究过程中必不可少的工具。最近的研究工作表明,通过ＭＡＩＤＩ－ＴＯＦ－ＭＳ或ＨＰ     

Gas chromatography mass spectrometry based metabolic profiling reveals biomarkers involved in rice-gall midge interactions

The Asian rice gall midge (Orseolia oryzae Wood-Mason) is a serious pest of rice that causes huge loss in yield. While feeding inside the susceptible host, maggots secrete substances that facilitate th...     

Imaging mass spectrometry: principle and application

Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is two-dimensional mass spectrometry to visualize the spatial distribution of biomolecules, which does not need either separation or purification of target molecules, and enables us to monitor not only the identification of unknown molecules but also the localization of numerous molecules simultaneously. Among the ionization techniques, matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is one of the most generally used for IMS, which allows the analysis of numerous biomolecules ranging over wide molecular weights. Proper selection and preparation of matrix is essential for successful imaging using IMS. Tandem mass spectrometry, which is referred to MSⁿ, enables the structural analysis of a molecule detected by the first step of IMS. Applications of IMS were initially developed for studying proteins or peptides. At present, however, targets of IMS research have expanded to the imaging of small endogenous metabolites such as lipids, exogenous drug pharmacokinetics, exploring new disease markers, and other new scientific fields. We hope that this new technology will open a new era for biophysics.     

Surface plasmon resonance mass spectrometry in proteomics

Due to the enormous complexity of the proteome, focus in proteomics shifts more and more from the study of the complete proteome to the targeted analysis of part of the proteome. The isolation of this specific part of the proteome generally includes an affinity-based enrichment. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), a label-free technique able to follow enrichment in real-time and in a semiquantitative manner, is an emerging tool for targeted affinity enrichment. Furthermore, in combination with mass spectrometry (MS), SPR can be used to both selectively enrich for and identify proteins from a complex sample. Here we illustrate the use of SPR-MS to solve proteomics-based research questions, describing applications that use very different types of immobilized components: such as small (drug or messenger) molecules, peptides, DNA and proteins. We evaluate the current possibilities and limitations and discuss the future developments of the SPR-MS technique.     

Going forward: Increasing the accessibility of imaging mass spectrometry

The driving force behind the high and increasing popularity of imaging mass spectrometry is its demonstrated potential for the determination of new diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers and its ability to simultaneously trace the distributions of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in tissues without the need to develop expensive radioactively-labeled analogues. Both of these applications would benefit from standardized methods, for the development of novel MS-based molecular histology tests and governmental-approved MS-based assays for pharmaceutical development. In addition, the broader scientific community would benefit from the increased accessibility of the technique. Currently imaging MS studies are individual endeavors, utilizing the individual expertise and infrastructure of a single laboratory and their immediate collaborators. A wide array of tissue preparation, data acquisition and data analysis techniques has been developed but lacks an international collaborative structure and data sharing capabilities. Such a collaborative framework would enable methodological exchange and detailed comparisons of analytical capabilities, to explore synergies between the different methods and result in the development of robust standardized methods. Here we describe the activities of a new European imaging MS network that will explicitly compare and contrast existing methods to provide best practice guidelines for the entire healthcare research community.