pH effect on dynamic coating for capillary electrophoresis of DNA

In-line coupling SPE and CE for DNA preconcentration and separation

An in-line SPE method coupled to CE was developed for the analysis of DNA. The amino silica monolith was prepared in situ by polymerization of tetraethoxysilane and N-(β-aminoethyl)-γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane in ethanol aqueous solution at the inlet end of a 100 μm id fused-silica capillary, and the remaining part of the capillary was used as separation channel. The procedure for this in-line SPE-CE method was constructed on the basis of investigation on operational conditions such as the introduction mode of sieving matrix, the composition of elution solvent and the elution time. Twenty millimolar ammonium hydroxide was demonstrated to be effective for DNA desorption from the monolith, and linear poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) was used as the separation matrix. The proposed method could achieve limits of detection of 0.065-0.123 ng/mL for six DNA fragments ranging 100-2000 bp. Compared with conventional CE, preconcentration factors of over 100 times were obtained. The applicability of the in-line SPE-CE method was further demonstrated by analyzing plasmid DNA from Escherichia coli crude lysate.

Analysis of plasmid DNA damage induced by melanin with capillary electrophoresis

Dilute linear poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) in Tris-Mes-EDTA (TME) buffer was used as sieving matrix for capillary electrophoresis (CE) of plasmid DNA and plasmid topological isomers induced by melanin in uncoated capillary. At the optimized condition of 0.1% (w/v) PNIPAM in TME buffer, base line separation of the plasmid DNA ladder (2-12 kbp) was achieved within 15 min. Three positive clones with inserts of 468, 1147 and 1566 bp can be distinguished from the plasmid pUC 18 vector within 13 min. The migration order of the plasmid topological isomers in the dynamic coating matrix was confirmed by the enzymatically prepared and UV-induced plasmids. The covalently closed circular form appeared firstly, followed by the linear plasmid form and then the open circular form. The effect of bacterial melanin obtained from Pseudomonas maltophilia AT18 on plasmid pUC 18 was investigated by CE in uncoated capillary in vitro. Plasmid pUC 18 incubated with either melanin or copper ions alone sustained little DNA damage. The combination of melanin with Cu(II) can cause the plasmid pUC 18 conformational changes from covalently closed circular form to open form. Understanding the damage effect of melanin with copper ions on DNA would be important for the melanin-related application, such as photoprotective antioxidant in protecting the skin from cancer, pathophysiology research in clinic. The investigation of melanin induced plasmid conformational changes by CE in uncoated capillary also revealed that the application of the dynamic coating matrix could be extended to the study of plasmid conformational changes in other plasmid-based biological technologies.