Immunochemical determination of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole as the responsible agent for the musty odor in foods. 1. Molecular modeling studies for antibody production

Extraction-less, rapid assay for the direct detection of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) in cork samples

2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the cork taint molecule, has been the target of several analytical approaches over the few past years. In spite of the development of highly efficient and sensitive tools for its detection, ranging from advanced chromatography to biosensor-based techniques, a practical breakthrough for routine cork screening purposes has not yet been realized, in part due to the requirement of a lengthy extraction of TCA in organic solvents, mostly 12% ethanol and the high detectability required. In the present report, we present a modification of a previously reported biosensor system based on the measurement of the electric response of cultured fibroblast cells membrane-engineered with the pAb78 TCA-specific antibody. Samples were prepared by macerating cork tissue and mixing it directly with the cellular biorecognition elements, without any intervening extraction process. By using this novel approach, we were able to detect TCA in just five minutes at extremely low concentrations (down to 0.2 ppt). The novel biosensor offers a number of practical benefits, including a very considerable reduction in the total assay time by one day, and a full portability, enabling its direct employment for on-site, high throughput screening of cork in the field and production facilities, without requiring any type of supporting infrastructure.

Development of an immunoassay for terbutryn: study of the influence of the immunization protocol

Heterologous immunization has proven to be useful to enhance the selectivity and specificity of catalytic antibodies. However, in the field of immunoassays, few studies have been done to establish how the immunization protocol influences the antibody characteristics. In the present study, we have developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of the pesticide terbutryn following a homologous and a heterologous immunization strategy. No significant differences have been observed between the immunization procedures regarding immunoassay sensitivity and selectivity. Thus, immunoassays with a limit of detection below the 25 ng/l established by current European regulations have been obtained with both immunization protocols. Initial studies have been performed to assess the applicability of these ELISAs to the analysis of real water matrixes.

Hapten-antibody recognition studies in competitive immunoassay of α-zearalanol analogs by computational chemistry and Pearson Correlation analysis

The molecular recognition of hapten-antibody is a fundamental event in competitive immunoassay, which guarantees the sensitivity and specificity of immunoassay for the detection of haptens. The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between binding ability of one monoclonal antibody, 1H9B4, recognizing and the molecular aspects of α-zearalanol analogs. The mouse-derived monoclonal antibody was produced by using α-zearalanol conjugated to bovine serum albumin as an immunogen. The antibody recognition abilities, expressed as IC(50) values, were determined by a competitive ELISA. All of the hapten molecules were optimized by Density Function Theory (DFT) at B3LYP/ 6-31G* level and the conformation and electrostatic molecular isosurface were employed to explain the molecular recognition between α-zearalanol analogs and antibody 1H9B4. Pearson Correlation analysis between molecular descriptors and IC(50) values was qualitatively undertaken and the results showed that one molecular descriptor, surface of the hapten molecule, clearly demonstrated linear relationship with antibody recognition ability, where the relationship coefficient was 0.88 and the correlation was significant at p < 0.05 level. The study shows that computational chemistry and Pearson Correlation analysis can be used as tool to help the immunochemistries better understand the processing of antibody recognition of hapten molecules in competitive immunoassay.

Immunoassay for phenylurea herbicides: application of molecular modeling and quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis on an antigen-antibody interaction study

An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) for 12 phenylurea herbicides (PUHs) was established with the half-maximum inhibition concentration (IC(50)) of 1.7-920.7 μg L(-1). A method of computer-aided molecular modeling was established in quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies to obtain a deeper insight into the PUHs' antibody interactions on how and which molecular properties of the analytes quantitatively affect the antibody recognition. A two-dimensional (2D)-QSAR model based on the Hansch equation and a hologram QSAR (HQSAR) model were constructed, and both showed highly predictive abilities with cross-validation q(2) values of 0.820 and 0.752, respectively. It was revealed that the most important impact factor of the antibody recognition was the PUHs' hydrophobicity (log P), which provided a quadratic correlation to the antibody recognition. Hapten-carrier linking groups were less exposed to antibodies during immunization; thus, groups of the analytes in the same position were generally considered to be less contributive to antibody recognition during immunoassay. But the results of substructure-level analysis showed that these groups played an important role in the antigen-antibody interaction. In addition, the frontier-orbital energy parameter E(LUMO) was also demonstrated as a related determinant for this reaction. In short, the result demonstrated that the hydrophobicity and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy (E(LUMO)) of PUH molecules were mainly responsible for antibody recognition.

Synthesis of site-heterologous haptens for high-affinity anti-pyraclostrobin antibody generation

The design and synthesis of functional chemical derivatives of small organic molecules is usually a key step for the intricate production of a variety of bioconjugates. In this respect, the derivatization site at which the spacer arm is introduced in immunizing conjugates constitutes a highly critical parameter for the generation of high-affinity and selective antibodies. However, due to the usual complexity of the required synthetic procedures, the appropriate comparison of alternative tethering positions has often been neglected. In the present study, meticulous strategies were followed to prepare synthetic derivatives of pyraclostrobin with the same linkers located at diverse rationally-chosen sites. Activity appraisal of antibodies and bioconjugates was carried out by bidimensional competitive direct and indirect immunoassays, and a superior performance of two of the three synthesized haptens was found. Finally, a detailed analysis of the conformations of the target molecule and the synthesized haptens in aqueous solution was done using computer assisted molecular modeling techniques. This study suggested that the lower titers and affinities of one set of antibodies are most probably due to conformational effects of the spacer arm in the immunizing bioconjugate.