Rapid proteolytic digestion and peptide separation using monolithic enzyme microreactor coupled with capillary electrophoresis

Peptide mapping of proteins by capillary electromigration methods

This review article provides a wide overview of important developments and applications of capillary electromigration methods in the area of peptide mapping of proteins in the period 1997-mid-2022, including review articles on this topic. It deals with all major aspects of peptide mapping by capillary electromigration methods: i) precleavage sample preparation involving purification, preconcentration, denaturation, reduction and alkylation of protein(s) to be analyzed, ii) generation of peptide fragments by off-line or on-line enzymatic and/or chemical cleavage of protein(s), iii) postcleavage preparation of the generated peptide mixture for capillary electromigration separation, iv) separation of the complex peptide mixtures by one-, two- and multidimensional capillary electromigration methods coupled with mass spectrometry detection, and v) a large application of peptide mapping for variable purposes, such as qualitative analysis of monoclonal antibodies and other protein biopharmaceuticals, monitoring of posttranslational modifications, determination of primary structure and investigation of function of proteins in biochemical and clinical research, characterization of proteins of variable origin as well as for protein and peptide identification in proteomic and peptidomic studies.

Development of novel enzyme immobilization methods employing formaldehyde or triethoxysilylbutyraldehyde to fabricate immobilized enzyme microreactors for peptide mapping

The digestion of proteins with proteolytic enzymes has expedited the analysis of peptide mapping. Here, we compared the digestion efficiency of soluble chymotrypsin (CT) with two immobilized CT preparations using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the substrate. An efficient method of immobilizing chymotrypsin using formaldehyde (FA) was optimized and the conditions were applied to assess a novel immobilization reagent, triethoxysilylbutaraldehyde (TESB). Efforts to determine the best enzyme-to-substrate (E : S) ratios during digestion of denatured BSA with single-use FA-CT enzyme particles were performed by adjusting the amount of substrate used. An E : S ratio of 10 : 1 was found to be best based on the LC-MS/MS analysis data showing sequence coverage of 67%. Fabrication of immobilized enzyme microreactors (IMERs) was carried out using both (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) with the idealized conditions with FA, as well as the novel procedure utilizing TESB for a proof of concept open-tubular IMER. It was found that the FA-APTES IMER had a sequence coverage of 6%, while the TESB IMER had 29% sequence coverage from MS analysis. The application of TESB in enzyme immobilization has the potential to facilitate a greater degree of enzymatic digestion with higher sequence coverage than traditional immobilization or crosslinking reagents for bottom-up proteomics.

Microfluidic Immobilized Enzymatic Reactors for Proteomic Analyses—Recent Developments and Trends (2017–2021)

Given the strong interdisciplinary nature of microfluidic immobilized enzyme reactor (μ-IMER) technology, several branches of science contribute to its successful implementation. A combination of physical, chemical knowledge and engineering skills is often required. The development and application of μ-IMERs in the proteomic community are experiencing increasing importance due to their attractive features of enzyme reusability, shorter digestion times, the ability to handle minute volumes of sample and the prospect of on-line integration into analytical workflows. The aim of this review is to give an account of the current (2017–2021) trends regarding the preparation of microdevices, immobilization strategies, and IMER configurations. The different aspects of microfabrication (designs, fabrication technologies and detectors) and enzyme immobilization (empty and packed channels, and monolithic supports) are surveyed focusing on μ-IMERs developed for proteomic analysis. Based on the advantages and limitations of the published approaches and the different applications, a probable perspective is given.

Recent developments in capillary and microchip electroseparations of peptides (2019-mid 2021)

The review provides a comprehensive overview of developments and applications of high performance capillary and microchip electroseparation methods (zone electrophoresis, isotachophoresis, isoelectric focusing, affinity electrophoresis, electrokinetic chromatography, and electrochromatography) for analysis, microscale isolation, and physicochemical characterization of peptides from 2019 up to approximately the middle of 2021. Advances in the investigation of electromigration properties of peptides and in the methodology of their analysis, such as sample preparation, sorption suppression, EOF control, and detection, are presented. New developments in the individual CE and CEC methods are demonstrated and several types of their applications are shown. They include qualitative and quantitative analysis, determination in complex biomatrices, monitoring of chemical and enzymatic reactions and physicochemical changes, amino acid, sequence, and chiral analyses, and peptide mapping of proteins. In addition, micropreparative separations and determination of significant physicochemical parameters of peptides by CE and CEC methods are described.

Overview of in-capillary enzymatic reactions using capillary electrophoresis

This review summarizes the research that has recently been performed on in-capillary enzymatic reactions integrated with capillary electrophoresis. The manuscript is subdivided in homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches. The main homogeneous techniques are Electrophoretically Mediated Microanalysis, At-inlet and Transverse Diffusion of Laminar Flow Profiles. The main heterogeneous ones are Immobilized MicroEnzyme Reactors with enzymes grafted on either non-magnetic or magnetic particles. The overview covers the period from 2018 to early 2021. The applications range from drug discovery over natural products to food, beverage and pesticide analysis.

How does DNA 'meet' capillary-based microsystems?

DNA possesses various chemical and physical properties which make it important in biological analysis. The opportunity for DNA to 'meet' capillary-based microsystems is rapidly increasing owing to the expanding development of miniaturization. Novel capillary-based methods can provide favourable platforms for DNA-ligand interaction assay, DNA translocation study, DNA separation, DNA aptamer selection, DNA amplification assay, and DNA digestion. Meanwhile, DNA exhibits great potential in the fabrication of new capillary-based biosensors and enzymatic bioreactors. Moreover, DNA has received significant research interest in improving capillary electrophoresis (CE) performance. We focus on highlighting the advantages of combining DNA and capillary-based microsystems. The general trend presented in this review suggests that the 'meeting' has offered a stepping stone for the application of DNA and capillary-based microsystems in the field of analytical chemistry.

Glycine-modified organic polymer monolith featuring zwitterionic functionalities for hydrophilic capillary electrochromatography

Allylglycine, a conventional amino acid derivative, possesses typical zwitterionic and hydrophilic functionalities deriving from the carboxyl and amino groups in its structure. A novel monolithic column poly(allylglycine-co-1, 3, 5-triacryloylhexahydro-1, 3, 5-triazine) (AGly-co-TAT) with powerful hydrophilic selectivity and obvious zwitterionic feature was synthesized successfully with the monomer allyglycine and the cross-linker 1, 3, 5-triacryloylhexahydro-1, 3, 5-triazine through in-situ copolymerization for capillary electrochromatography. The obtained monolithic column has good permeability. Due to the zwitterionic functional groups of allylglycine, the poly(AGly-co-TAT) monolithic column can generate a cathodic and anodic electroosmotic flow (EOF) by changing the mobile phase pH, which is beneficial to expand its application range. The separations of different series of polar analytes, thioureas, xanthines, phenols, peptides and acidic compounds are achieved on this hydrophilic monolithic column due to the powerful hydrophilic, electrostatic and hydrogen bond interactions. Using this monolithic column, hydrophilic separations are achieved even at a lower level of 50% organic solvent. The separation efficiency up to 1.41 × 10⁵ N m^-1 and 1.19 × 10⁵ N m^-1 is achieved for the separation of theophylline and phenol, respectively. For a real sample, cytochrome C digestion, the monolithic column shows good separation performance, which offers the potential application of the monolithic column on proteomics study.

Tunable Polymeric Scaffolds for Enzyme Immobilization

The number of methodologies for the immobilization of enzymes using polymeric supports is continuously growing due to the developments in the fields of biotechnology, polymer chemistry, and nanotechnology in the last years. Despite being excellent catalysts, enzymes are very sensitive molecules and can undergo denaturation beyond their natural environment. For overcoming this issue, polymer chemistry offers a wealth of opportunities for the successful combination of enzymes with versatile natural or synthetic polymers. The fabrication of functional, stable, and robust biocatalytic hybrid materials (nanoparticles, capsules, hydrogels, or films) has been proven advantageous for several applications such as biomedicine, organic synthesis, biosensing, and bioremediation. In this review, supported with recent examples of enzyme-protein hybrids, we provide an overview of the methods used to combine both macromolecules, as well as the future directions and the main challenges that are currently being tackled in this field.

Strong hydrophilic monolithic column functionalized with amphiphilic benzyl quinine for capillary electrochromatography and application in pharmaceutical analysis

An innovative strong hydrophilic organic polymer monolithic column of poly(N-benzylquininium chloride-co-1, 3, 5-triacryloylhexahydro-1, 3, 5-triazine) (poly(NBQ-co-TAT)) has been successfully synthesized through in situ copolymerization for capillary electrochromatography. The amphiphilic monomer NBQ and the strong polar cross-linker TAT are firstly used in hydrophilic electrochromatography by taking advantage of the exhibition of hydrophilicity at lower levels of organic solvent and ease formation of porous structure. The monolithic column poly(NBQ-co-TAT) shows powerful hydrophilic selectivity with mobile phase containing more than 60% organic solvent. The introduction of NBQ and TAT enlarges the sources of functional monomers and cross-linkers for HILIC. Due to the presence of the positively charged group in NBQ, an anodic electroosmotic flow is generated with the change of pH values from 2.0 to 12.0. The monolithic column was used for the separations of thioureas, phenols, xanthines, nucleobases, acidic substances and pharmaceuticals. The highest column efficiency for N, N'-dimethylthiourea is 1.15 × 10⁵ N m^-1. The application of the monolithic column for a real sample, cytochrome C digestion indicates its great potential in practical application.

Enhanced light-emitting diode induced fluorescence detection system with capillary electrophoresis

An enhanced fluorescence detection system of capillary electrophoresis (CE) was equipped with a concave silver mirror, by which the detection sensitivity of light-emitting diode induced fluorescence (LEDIF) can be increased greatly. The silver concave mirror and the cathode window in photomultiplier tube (PMT) were accurately set face to face at the same axis. When the two labeled tumor markers exactly moved to the center of detection window, the emission from analytes are excitated by LED source. Currently, the analytes may be regarded as a luminescent source point. When the source point exactly moves to the focus of the concave mirror, the emission of the labeled sample was collected effectively, enhanced by convergence and reflected by the concave mirror. Then it was sensitively detected by the PMT. The optical mechanism of enhancing detection sensitivity was explored. A simple comparative test on sensitivity was carried out, which aimed to compare sensitivity of the new detection system with concave mirror to that without concave mirror but the other conditions were kept the same. Two tumor markers labeled with FITC were selected for the test, using the simple LEDIF detect system. The results (LOD, 150 nM for L-Leu and L-Val) showed that the detection sensitivity matched with concave mirror reached more 16 times than the detection method without concave mirror.