Fast and efficient proteolysis by reusable pepsin-encapsulated magnetic sol-gel material for mass spectrometry-based proteomics applications

Online protein digestion in membranes between capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

This research employs pepsin-containing membranes to digest proteins online after a capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation and prior to tandem mass spectrometry. Proteolysis after the separation allows the peptides from a given protein to enter the mass spectrometer in a single plug. Thus, migration time can serve as an additional criterion for confirming the identification of a peptide. The membrane resides in a sheath-flow electrospray ionization (ESI) source to enable digestion immediately before spray into the mass spectrometer, thus limiting separation of the digested peptides. Using the same membrane, digestion occurred reproducibly during 20 consecutive CE analyses performed over a 10 h period. Additionally, after separating a mixture of six unreduced proteins with CE, online digestion facilitated protein identification with at least 2 identifiable peptides for all the proteins. Sequence coverages were >75% for myoglobin and carbonic anhydrase II but much lower for proteins containing disulfide bonds. Development of methods for efficient separation of reduced proteins or identification of cross-linked peptides should enhance sequence coverages for proteins with disulfide bonds. Migration times for the peptides identified from a specific protein differed by <∼30 s, which allows for rejection of some spurious peptide identifications.

Preparation of immobilized pepsin for extraction of collagen from bovine hide

In the extraction of collagens from mammalian tissues, the free pepsin used in the acid-pepsin extraction system is hard to recycle, and there is a risk of enzyme protein contamination in the extracted collagen products, which limits their applications. To solve this problem, an immobilized pepsin was successfully prepared via the covalent crosslinking of glutaraldehyde using a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) surface modified silica clay as the support. The immobilized pepsin was applied for the extraction of collagen from bovine hide. The optimal immobilization process involves incubating pepsin with an initial concentration of 35 mg mL^-1 and glutaraldehyde with 5% activated APTES modified silica clay at 25 °C for 60 min, by which the loading amount of pepsin was 220 mg g^-1 and the activity of the immobilized pepsin was 4.2 U mg^-1. The collagen extracted using acetic acid and the immobilized pepsin method retained its complete triple helix structure. This research thus details an effective separation method using pepsin for extraction of collagen via an acetic acid-enzyme method, where the extracted collagen may be a candidate for use in biomaterial applications.

Recent Advances of Magnetic Nanomaterials in Bone Tissue Repair

The magnetic field has been proven to enhance bone tissue repair by affecting cell metabolic behavior. Magnetic nanoparticles are used as biomaterials due to their unique magnetic properties and good biocompatibility. Through endocytosis, entering the cell makes it easier to affect the physiological function of the cell. Once the magnetic particles are exposed to an external magnetic field, they will be rapidly magnetized. The magnetic particles and the magnetic field work together to enhance the effectiveness of their bone tissue repair treatment. This article reviews the common synthesis methods, the mechanism, and application of magnetic nanomaterials in the field of bone tissue repair.

Species-specific identification of collagen components in Colla corii asini using a nano-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry proteomics approach

Colla corii asini (CCA) is a protein-based traditional Chinese medicine made from donkey skins. Because it has the ability to nourish blood, its demand is increasing rapidly. The shortage of donkey skins increases the risk of the adulteration of CCA products with other animal skins. To ensure the drug efficacy and safety of CCA products, a proteomics technique was applied to reveal proteins in the skins of donkey, horse, cattle, and pig. Species-specific peptides for each animal species were predicted using bioinformatics, and their presence in the skins and gelatin samples was examined by nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-MS/MS). One unique marker peptide for each animal species was selected to develop an LC-MS/MS multiple reaction monitoring method. The capability of this method to identify donkey, horse, cattle, and pig materials was demonstrated by analyzing in-house-made donkey gelatins containing different amounts of other animal skins and commercial CCA products. The adulteration of non-donkey species could be sensitively detected at a low level of 0.5%. Hybrid animals, such as mules and hinnies, were also differentiated from donkeys. We provide a practical tool for the quality control of CCA products. The strategy can also be used to study other important traditional Chinese medicines which contain animal proteins.