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Wang JE, Zhou YC, Wu BH, Chen XC, Zhai J, Tan JH, Huang ZS, Chen SB. A rapid and highly sensitive immunosorbent assay to monitor helicases unwinding diverse nucleic acid structures. Analyst 2023; 148:2343-2351. [PMID: 37185609 DOI: 10.1039/d2an01989b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Helicases are crucial enzymes in DNA and RNA metabolism and function by unwinding particular nucleic acid structures. However, most convenient and high-throughput helicase assays are limited to the typical duplex DNA. Herein, we developed an immunosorbent assay to monitor the Werner syndrome (WRN) helicase unwinding a wide range of DNA structures, such as a replication fork, a bubble, Holliday junction, G-quadruplex and hairpin. This assay could sensitively detect the unwinding of DNA structures with detection limits around 0.1 nM, and accurately monitor the substrate-specificity of WRN with a comparatively less time-consuming and high throughput process. Remarkably, we have established that this new assay was compatible in evaluating helicase inhibitors and revealed that the inhibitory effect was substrate-dependent, suggesting that diverse substrate structures other than duplex structures should be considered in discovering new inhibitors. Our study provided a foundational example for using this new assay as a powerful tool to study helicase functions and discover potent inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia-En Wang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Ying-Chen Zhou
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Bi-Han Wu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Xiu-Cai Chen
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Junqiu Zhai
- Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangzhou 510330, China
| | - Jia-Heng Tan
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Zhi-Shu Huang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Shuo-Bin Chen
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
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Sun Y, Zang L, Lau C, Zhang X, Lu J. Sensitive detection of transcription factor by coupled fluorescence-encoded microsphere with exonuclease protection. Talanta 2021; 229:122272. [PMID: 33838774 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2021.122272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Revised: 02/20/2021] [Accepted: 02/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Aberrant transcription factors (TFs) activities are closely related to the occurrence and development of various diseases. Herein, we presented a fluorescence-encoded microsphere-based approach for TFs detection coupling with common DNA footprinting assay. Target TFs specifically bound the binding sites of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) probes which were conjugated to microspheres. Thus, the probes were protected from being hydrolyzed by exonuclease III (Exo III). Afterwards, biotins labeled on the probes reacted with streptavidin-phycoerythrin (SA-PE) to produce fluorescent signal; however, in the absence of target TFs, the dsDNA probes would be hydrolyzed by Exo III resulting in biotins falling off and thus fluorescence signal was not generated. This strategy can be used to detect nuclear factor-kappa B p50 (NF-κB p50) with a detection limit of 0.2 nM. The steric hindrance of microspheres overcome the disadvantage of Exo III that can nibble into the protein-bound DNA region. Meanwhile, the fluorescent label of microsphere was specific to each TF, enabling multiplex detection could be achieved by changing specific protein binding site of corresponding dsDNA probe. This method has been successfully applied for simultaneous detection of NF-κB p50, AP-1 and CREB in nuclear extract isolated from HeLa cells stimulated or unstimulated by TNF-α, showing great potential for biomedical researches and precise disease diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Sun
- School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China; School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, China
| | - Liu Zang
- School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, China
| | - Choiwan Lau
- School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, China
| | - Xueji Zhang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China.
| | - Jianzhong Lu
- School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
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