Plasmonics-Based Detection of Virus Using Sialic Acid Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles.

Biosensor for the detection of virus was developed by utilizing plasmonic peak shift phenomenon of the gold nanoparticles and viral infection mechanism of hemagglutinin on virus and sialic acid on animal cells. The plasmonic peak of the colloidal gold nanoparticles changes with the aggregation of the particles due to the plasmonic interaction between nearby particles and the color of the colloidal nanoparticle solution changes from wine red to purple. Sialic acid reduced and stabilized colloidal gold nanoparticle aggregation is induced by the addition of viral particles in the solution due to the hemagglutinin-sialic acid interaction. In this work, sialic acid reduced and stabilized gold nanoparticles (d = 20.1 ± 1.8 nm) were synthesized by a simple one-pot, green method without chemically modifying sialic acid. The gold nanoparticles showed target-specific aggregation with viral particles via hemagglutinin-sialic acid binding. A linear correlation was observed between the change in optical density and dilution of chemically inactivated influenza B virus species. The detection limit of the virus dilution (hemagglutinination assay titer, 512) was shown to be 0.156 vol% and the upper limit of the linearity can be extended with the use of more sialic acid-gold nanoparticles.

Failure of manganese to protect from Shiga toxin.

Shiga toxin (Stx), the main virulence factor of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli, is a major public health threat, causing hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. Currently, there are no approved therapeutics for these infections; however manganese has been reported to provide protection from the Stx1 variant isolated from Shigella dysenteriae (Stx1-S) both in vitro and in vivo. We investigated the efficacy of manganese protection from Stx1-S and the more potent Stx2a isoform, using experimental systems well-established for studying Stx: in vitro responses of Vero monkey kidney cells, and in vivo toxicity to CD-1 outbred mice. Manganese treatment at the reported therapeutic concentration was toxic to Vero cells in culture and to CD-1 mice. At lower manganese concentrations that were better tolerated, we observed no protection from Stx1-S or Stx2a toxicity. The ability of manganese to prevent the effects of Stx may be particular to certain cell lines, mouse strains, or may only be manifested at high, potentially toxic manganese concentrations.

Colorimetric viral detection based on sialic acid stabilized gold nanoparticles.

Sialic acid reduced and stabilized gold nanoparticles (d=20.1±1.8 nm) were synthesized by a simple one-pot, green method without chemically modifying sialic acid for colorimetric detection of influenza virus. The gold nanoparticles showed target-specific aggregation with viral particles via hemagglutinin-sialic acid binding. A linear correlation was observed between the change in optical density and dilution of chemically inactivated influenza B/Victoria and influenza B/Yamagata. Virus dilution (hemagglutination assay titer, 512) of 0.156 vol% was readily detected. The upper limit of the linearity can be extended with the use of more sialic acid-gold nanoparticles.

Functional context, biosynthesis, and genetic encoding of pyrrolysine.

In Methanosarcina spp., amber codons in methylamine methyltransferase genes are translated as the 22nd amino acid, pyrrolysine. The responsible pyl genes plus amber-codon containing methyltransferase genes have been identified in four archaeal and five bacterial genera, including one human pathogen. In Escherichia coli, the recombinant pylBCD gene products biosynthesize pyrrolysine from two molecules of lysine and the pylTS gene products direct pyrrolysine incorporation into protein. In the proposed biosynthetic pathway, PylB forms methylornithine from lysine, which is joined to another lysine by PylC, and oxidized to pyrrolysine by PylD. Structures of the catalytic domain of pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (archaeal PylS or bacterial PylSc) revealed binding sites for tRNAPyl and pyrrolysine. PylS and tRNAPyl are now being exploited as an orthogonal pair in recombinant systems for introduction of useful modified amino acids into proteins.

The complete biosynthesis of the genetically encoded amino acid pyrrolysine from lysine.

Pyrrolysine, the twenty-second amino acid found to be encoded in the natural genetic code, is necessary for all of the known pathways by which methane is formed from methylamines. Pyrrolysine comprises a methylated pyrroline carboxylate in amide linkage to the ε-amino group of L-lysine. In certain Archaea, three methyltransferases initiate methanogenesis from the various methylamines, and these enzymes are encoded by genes with an in-frame amber codon that is translated as pyrrolysine. Escherichia coli that has been transformed with the pylTSBCD genes from methanogenic Archaea can incorporate endogenously biosynthesized pyrrolysine into proteins. The decoding of UAG as pyrrolysine requires pylT, which produces tRNA(Pyl) (also called tRNA(CUA)), and pylS, which encodes a pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase. The pylB, pylC and pylD genes are each required for tRNA-independent pyrrolysine synthesis. Pyrrolysine is the last remaining genetically encoded amino acid with an unknown biosynthetic pathway. Here we provide genetic and mass spectrometric evidence for a pylBCD-dependent pathway in which pyrrolysine arises from two lysines. We show that a newly uncovered UAG-encoded amino acid, desmethylpyrrolysine, is made from lysine and exogenous D-ornithine in a pylC-dependent process followed by a pylD-dependent process, but it is not further converted to pyrrolysine. These results indicate that the radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) protein PylB mediates a lysine mutase reaction that produces 3-methylornithine, which is then ligated to a second molecule of lysine by PylC before oxidation by PylD results in pyrrolysine. The discovery of lysine as the sole precursor to pyrrolysine will further inform discussions of the evolution of the genetic code and amino acid biosynthetic pathways. Furthermore, intermediates of the pathway may provide new avenues by which the pyl system can be exploited to produce recombinant proteins with useful modified residues.