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Electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor capacitors (EISCAP) belong to field-effect sensors having an attractive transducer architecture for constructing various biochemical sensors. In this study, a capacitive model of enzyme-modified EISCAPs has been developed and the impact of the surface coverage of immobilized enzymes on its capacitance-voltage and constant-capacitance characteristics was studied theoretically and experimentally. The used multicell arrangement enables a multiplexed electrochemical characterization of up to sixteen EISCAPs. Different enzyme coverages have been achieved by means of parallel electrical connection of bare and enzyme-covered single EISCAPs in diverse combinations. As predicted by the model, with increasing the enzyme coverage, both the shift of capacitance-voltage curves and the amplitude of the constant-capacitance signal increase, resulting in an enhancement of analyte sensitivity of the EISCAP biosensor. In addition, the capability of the multicell arrangement with multi-enzyme covered EISCAPs for sequentially detecting multianalytes (penicillin and urea) utilizing the enzymes penicillinase and urease has been experimentally demonstrated and discussed.
The artificial olfactory image was proposed by Lundström et al. in 1991 as a new strategy for an electronic nose system which generated a two-dimensional mapping to be interpreted as a fingerprint of the detected gas species. The potential distribution generated by the catalytic metals integrated into a semiconductor field-effect structure was read as a photocurrent signal generated by scanning light pulses. The impact of the proposed technology spread beyond gas sensing, inspiring the development of various imaging modalities based on the light addressing of field-effect structures to obtain spatial maps of pH distribution, ions, molecules, and impedance, and these modalities have been applied in both biological and non-biological systems. These light-addressing technologies have been further developed to realize the position control of a faradaic current on the electrode surface for localized electrochemical reactions and amperometric measurements, as well as the actuation of liquids in microfluidic devices.
To gain insight on chemical sterilization processes, the influence of temperature (up to 70 °C), intense green light, and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) concentration (up to 30% in aqueous solution) on microbial spore inactivation is evaluated by in-situ Raman spectroscopy with an optical trap. Bacillus atrophaeus is utilized as a model organism. Individual spores are isolated and their chemical makeup is monitored under dynamically changing conditions (temperature, light, and H₂O₂ concentration) to mimic industrially relevant process parameters for sterilization in the field of aseptic food processing. While isolated spores in water are highly stable, even at elevated temperatures of 70 °C, exposure to H₂O₂ leads to a loss of spore integrity characterized by the release of the key spore biomarker dipicolinic acid (DPA) in a concentration-dependent manner, which indicates damage to the inner membrane of the spore. Intensive light or heat, both of which accelerate the decomposition of H₂O₂ into reactive oxygen species (ROS), drastically shorten the spore lifetime, suggesting the formation of ROS as a rate-limiting step during sterilization. It is concluded that Raman spectroscopy can deliver mechanistic insight into the mode of action of H₂O₂-based sterilization and reveal the individual contributions of different sterilization methods acting in tandem.
Frequency mixing magnetic detection (FMMD) is a sensitive and selective technique to detect magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) serving as probes for binding biological targets. Its principle relies on the nonlinear magnetic relaxation dynamics of a particle ensemble interacting with a dual frequency external magnetic field. In order to increase its sensitivity, lower its limit of detection and overall improve its applicability in biosensing, matching combinations of external field parameters and internal particle properties are being sought to advance FMMD. In this study, we systematically probe the aforementioned interaction with coupled Néel–Brownian dynamic relaxation simulations to examine how key MNP properties as well as applied field parameters affect the frequency mixing signal generation. It is found that the core size of MNPs dominates their nonlinear magnetic response, with the strongest contributions from the largest particles. The drive field amplitude dominates the shape of the field-dependent response, whereas effective anisotropy and hydrodynamic size of the particles only weakly influence the signal generation in FMMD. For tailoring the MNP properties and parameters of the setup towards optimal FMMD signal generation, our findings suggest choosing large particles of core sizes dc > 25 nm nm with narrow size distributions (σ < 0.1) to minimize the required drive field amplitude. This allows potential improvements of FMMD as a stand-alone application, as well as advances in magnetic particle imaging, hyperthermia and magnetic immunoassays.
N-Acyl-amino acids can act as mild biobased surfactants, which are used, e.g., in baby shampoos. However, their chemical synthesis needs acyl chlorides and does not meet sustainability criteria. Thus, the identification of biocatalysts to develop greener synthesis routes is desirable. We describe a novel aminoacylase from Paraburkholderia monticola DSM 100849 (PmAcy) which was identified, cloned, and evaluated for its N-acyl-amino acid synthesis potential. Soluble protein was obtained by expression in lactose autoinduction medium and co-expression of molecular chaperones GroEL/S. Strep-tag affinity purification enriched the enzyme 16-fold and yielded 15 mg pure enzyme from 100 mL of culture. Biochemical characterization revealed that PmAcy possesses beneficial traits for industrial application like high temperature and pH-stability. A heat activation of PmAcy was observed upon incubation at temperatures up to 80 °C. Hydrolytic activity of PmAcy was detected with several N-acyl-amino acids as substrates and exhibited the highest conversion rate of 773 U/mg with N-lauroyl-L-alanine at 75 °C. The enzyme preferred long-chain acyl-amino-acids and displayed hardly any activity with acetyl-amino acids. PmAcy was also capable of N-acyl-amino acid synthesis with good conversion rates. The best synthesis results were obtained with the cationic L-amino acids L-arginine and L-lysine as well as with L-leucine and L-phenylalanine. Exemplarily, L-phenylalanine was acylated with fatty acids of chain lengths from C8 to C18 with conversion rates of up to 75%. N-lauroyl-L-phenylalanine was purified by precipitation, and the structure of the reaction product was verified by LC–MS and NMR.
In comparison to single-analyte devices, multiplexed systems for a multianalyte detection offer a reduced assay time and sample volume, low cost, and high throughput. Herein, a multiplexing platform for an automated quasi-simultaneous characterization of multiple (up to 16) capacitive field-effect sensors by the capacitive–voltage (C–V) and the constant-capacitance (ConCap) mode is presented. The sensors are mounted in a newly designed multicell arrangement with one common reference electrode and are electrically connected to the impedance analyzer via the base station. A Python script for the automated characterization of the sensors executes the user-defined measurement protocol. The developed multiplexing system is tested for pH measurements and the label-free detection of ligand-stabilized, charged gold nanoparticles.
In this work, the bioabsorbable materials, namely fibroin, polylactide acid (PLA), magnesium and magnesium oxide are investigated for their application as transient, resistive temperature detectors (RTD). For this purpose, a thin-film magnesium-based meander-like electrode is deposited onto a flexible, bioabsorbable substrate (fibroin or PLA) and encapsulated (passivated) by additional magnesium oxide layers on top and below the magnesium-based electrode. The morphology of different layered RTDs is analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The sensor performance and lifetime of the RTD is characterized both under ambient atmospheric conditions between 30°C and 43°C, and wet tissue-like conditions with a constant temperature regime of 37°C. The latter triggers the degradation process of the magnesium-based layers. The 3-layers RTDs on a PLA substrate could achieve a lifetime of 8.5 h. These sensors also show the best sensor performance under ambient atmospheric conditions with a mean sensitivity of 0.48 Ω/°C ± 0.01 Ω/°C.
Amino acid-based surfactants are valuable compounds for cosmetic formulations. The chemical synthesis of acyl-amino acids is conventionally performed by the Schotten-Baumann reaction using fatty acyl chlorides, but aminoacylases have also been investigated for use in biocatalytic synthesis with free fatty acids. Aminoacylases and their properties are diverse; they belong to different peptidase families and show differences in substrate specificity and biocatalytic potential. Bacterial aminoacylases capable of synthesis have been isolated from Burkholderia, Mycolicibacterium, and Streptomyces. Although several proteases and peptidases from S. griseus have been described, no aminoacylases from this species have been identified yet. In this study, we investigated two novel enzymes produced by S. griseus DSM 40236ᵀ . We identified and cloned the respective genes and recombinantly expressed an α-aminoacylase (EC 3.5.1.14), designated SgAA, and an ε-lysine acylase (EC 3.5.1.17), designated SgELA, in S. lividans TK23. The purified aminoacylase SgAA was biochemically characterized, focusing on its hydrolytic activity to determine temperature- and pH optima and stabilities. The aminoacylase could hydrolyze various acetyl-amino acids at the Nα -position with a broad specificity regarding the sidechain. Substrates with longer acyl chains, like lauroyl-amino acids, were hydrolyzed to a lesser extent. Purified aminoacylase SgELA specific for the hydrolysis of Nε -acetyl-L-lysine was unstable and lost its enzymatic activity upon storage for a longer period but could initially be characterized. The pH optimum of SgELA was pH 8.0. While synthesis of acyl-amino acids was not observed with SgELA, SgAA catalyzed the synthesis of lauroyl-methionine.
Immunosorbent turnip vein clearing virus (TVCV) particles displaying the IgG-binding domains D and E of Staphylococcus aureus protein A (PA) on every coat protein (CP) subunit (TVCVPA) were purified from plants via optimized and new protocols. The latter used polyethylene glycol (PEG) raw precipitates, from which virions were selectively re-solubilized in reverse PEG concentration gradients. This procedure improved the integrity of both TVCVPA and the wild-type subgroup 3 tobamovirus. TVCVPA could be loaded with more than 500 IgGs per virion, which mediated the immunocapture of fluorescent dyes, GFP, and active enzymes. Bi-enzyme ensembles of cooperating glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase were tethered together on the TVCVPA carriers via a single antibody type, with one enzyme conjugated chemically to its Fc region, and the other one bound as a target, yielding synthetic multi-enzyme complexes. In microtiter plates, the TVCVPA-displayed sugar-sensing system possessed a considerably increased reusability upon repeated testing, compared to the IgG-bound enzyme pair in the absence of the virus. A high coverage of the viral adapters was also achieved on Ta2O5 sensor chip surfaces coated with a polyelectrolyte interlayer, as a prerequisite for durable TVCVPA-assisted electrochemical biosensing via modularly IgG-assembled sensor enzymes.
Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), a strong oxidizer, is a commonly used sterilization agent employed during aseptic food processing and medical applications. To assess the sterilization efficiency with H₂O₂, bacterial spores are common microbial systems due to their remarkable robustness against a wide variety of decontamination strategies. Despite their widespread use, there is, however, only little information about the detailed time-resolved mechanism underlying the oxidative spore death by H₂O₂. In this work, we investigate chemical and morphological changes of individual Bacillus atrophaeus spores undergoing oxidative damage using optical sensing with trapping Raman microscopy in real-time. The time-resolved experiments reveal that spore death involves two distinct phases: (i) an initial phase dominated by the fast release of dipicolinic acid (DPA), a major spore biomarker, which indicates the rupture of the spore’s core; and (ii) the oxidation of the remaining spore material resulting in the subsequent fragmentation of the spores’ coat. Simultaneous observation of the spore morphology by optical microscopy corroborates these mechanisms. The dependence of the onset of DPA release and the time constant of spore fragmentation on H₂O₂ shows that the formation of reactive oxygen species from H₂O₂ is the rate-limiting factor of oxidative spore death.