First liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry method for the determination of cocaine on banknote dust.

PURPOSE: Prevalence measures of sociological interest concerning cocaine presence on banknotes are fraught with (i) the extreme variability of its concentration (seven orders of magnitude); (ii) the high number of banknotes needed for the statistical significance. Banknote dust from counting machines from a large and representative number of banknotes in circulation in a specific area represents the most eligible sample to ascertain cocaine circulation. No chromatographic method is available in this respect. This study aims at developing the first analytical methodology for the determination of cocaine in banknote dust samples. METHODS: This novel and straightforward approach consists of a simple methanol extraction followed by analytical determinations via ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Satisfactory analytical performance was obtained with a coefficient of determination of 0.996; maximum within-run and between-run precisions were, respectively, 1.85% and 5.20%. Limits of detection and quantification were, respectively, 3 and 9 ng/mL with an overall process efficiency of 93.2%. The method developed was successfully applied to 9 banknote dust samples from local banknote counter machines. The found concentrations ranged from 2.18E + 02 to 2.31E + 03 µg of cocaine per gram of banknote dust and varied only one order of magnitude, much less than cocaine concentration on banknotes. CONCLUSIONS: To have an idea of cocaine circulation in a geographical area, the sampling of banknote dust, compared to banknotes, consists of tremendous advantages in terms of statistical significance, higher cocaine concentrations, and lower variability: this is crucial from the sociological point of view.

The 40s Omega-loop plays a critical role in the stability and the alkaline conformational transition of cytochrome c.

The structural and redox properties of a non-covalent complex reconstituted upon mixing two non-contiguous fragments of horse cytochrome c, the residues 1-38 heme-containing N-fragment with the residues 57-104 C-fragment, have been investigated. With respect to native cyt c, the complex lacks a segment of 18 residues, corresponding, in the native protein, to an omega (Omega)-loop region. The fragment complex shows compact structure, native-like alpha-helix content but a less rigid atomic packing and reduced stability with respect to the native protein. Structural heterogeneity is observed at pH 7.0, involving formation of an axially misligated low-spin species and consequent partial displacement of Met80 from the sixth coordination position of the heme-iron. Spectroscopic data suggest that a lysine (located in the Met80-containing loop, namely Lys72, Lys73, or Lys79) replaces the methionine residue. The residues 1-38/57-104 fragment complex shows an unusual biphasic alkaline titration characterized by a low (p K(a1)=6.72) and a high p K(a)-associated state transition (p K(a2)=8.56); this behavior differs from that of native cyt c, which shows a monophasic alkaline transition (p K(a)=8.9). The data indicate that the 40s Omega-loop plays an important role in the stability of cyt c and in ensuring a correct alkaline conformational transition of the protein.

Manipulating the covalent link between distal side tryptophan, tyrosine, and methionine in catalase-peroxidases: an electronic absorption and resonance Raman study.

Electronic absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopies have been applied to study the ferric and ferrous forms, and fluoride complexes of the Tyr249Phe and Met275Ile variants of the recombinant catalase-peroxidase (KatG) from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803. Both crystal structures and mass spectrometric analysis demonstrated that Tyr249 and Met275 are part of a novel KatG-specific covalent adduct including in addition a conserved tryptophan. Its role is not well established, but it has been shown to be essential for the catalase activity. In the present work we investigate the effect of mutation on the protein stability and ligand binding. The results clearly show that mutation weakens the heme binding to the protein, giving rise to a partial conversion from the 5-coordinate high spin of the wild-type protein to 6-coordinate low-spin heme. An internal ligand binds the heme iron on the distal side as a consequence of protein destabilization and partially prevents the binding of external ligand such as fluoride. The results are compared with those previously reported for the Trp122Ala and Trp122Phe variants.

Comparison between catalase-peroxidase and cytochrome c peroxidase. The role of the hydrogen-bond networks for protein stability and catalysis.

A detailed resonance Raman and electronic absorption investigation has been carried out on a series of novel distal and proximal variants of recombinant catalase-peroxidase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803. In particular, variants of the distal triad Pro-Asp-Asn and the proximal triad His-Asp-Trp have been studied in their ferric and ferrous states at various pH. The data suggest marked differences in the structural role of the conserved residues and hydrogen-bond networks in KatG and CCP, which might be connected to the different catalytic activity. In particular, in KatG the proximal residues have a major role in the stability of the protein architecture because the disruption of the proximal Trp-Asp hydrogen bond by mutation weakens heme binding to the protein. On the distal side, replacing the hydrogen-acceptor carboxamide group of Asn153 by an aspartate carboxylate group or an aliphatic residue alters or disrupts the hydrogen bond with the distal His. As a consequence, the basicity of His123 is altered. The effect of mutation on Asp152 is noteworthy. Replacement of the Asp152 with Ser makes the architecture of the protein very similar to that of CCP. The Asp152 residue, which has been shown to be important in the hydrogen peroxide oxidation reaction, is expected to be hydrogen bonded to the nitrogen atom of Ile248 which is part of the KatG-specific insertion LL1, as in other KatGs. This insertion is at one edge of the heme, and connects the distal side with the proximal helices E and F, the latter carrying the proximal His ligand. We found that the distal Asp-Ile hydrogen bond is important for the stability of the heme architecture and its alteration changes markedly the proximal His-Asp hydrogen-bond interaction.

A model for the misfolded bis-His intermediate of cytochrome c: the 1-56 N-fragment.

We have characterized the ferric and ferrous forms of the heme-containing (1-56 residues) N-fragment of horse heart cytochrome c (cyt c) at different pH values and low ionic strength by UV-visible absorption and resonance Raman (RR) scattering. The results are compared with native cyt c in the same experimental conditions as this may provide a deeper insight into the cyt c unfolding-folding process. Folding of cyt c leads to a state having the heme iron coordinated to a histidine (His18) and a methionine (Met80) as axial ligands. At neutral pH the N-fragment (which lacks Met80) shows absorption and RR spectra that are consistent with the presence of a bis-His low spin heme, like several non-native forms of the parental protein. In particular, the optical spectra are identical to those of cyt c in the presence of a high concentration of denaturants; this renders the N-fragment a suitable model to study the heme pocket microenvironment of the misfolded (His-His) intermediate formed during folding of cyt c. Acid pH affects the ligation state in both cyt c and the N-fragment. Data obtained as a function of pH allow a correlation between the structural properties in the heme pocket of the N-fragment and those of non-native forms of cyt c. The results underline that the (57-104 residues) segment under native-like conditions imparts structural stability to the protein by impeding solvent access into the heme pocket.

New insight into the peroxidase-hydroxamic acid interaction revealed by the combination of spectroscopic and crystallographic studies.

Aromatic hydroxamic acids, such as salicylhydroxamic (SHA) and benzohydroxamic (BHA) acids, are commonly used as probes for studying the active sites of peroxidases. In this paper, we have extended the study of the complexes of Arthromyces ramosus peroxidase (ARP/CIP) with BHA and SHA by analyzing their Raman spectra in solution and in single crystals. The experiments were carried out under various conditions to identify the best experimental conditions, and hence, avoid artifacts deriving from the preparation of the samples or collection of the spectra. The analysis of the data takes also into account the characteristic of the electronic absorption spectra in solution and the crystal structures of the complexes. The results showed small differences between the solution and the crystal phases even though the coordination state can be dramatically affected by the physical or chemical conditions. The greater sensitivity of the spectroscopic technique enabled us to establish the existence of multiple species upon complexation of the protein with the hydroxamic acids that could not be detected by ordinary X-ray crystallography. Furthermore, SHA titration experiments and singular value decomposition analysis of the absorption spectra indicated the presence of two binding sites in the protein, one with a high affinity (K(d) = 1.7 mM), which should correspond to the SHA bound protein as determined by X-ray, and the other with a very low affinity (K(d) > 80 mM) probably located in a non-heme site. This suggests that the heterogeneous titration line shape involves ligand binding to a non-heme site in competition with the canonical heme site. In contrast, the titration profile obtained with the BHA ligand is monophasic, in agreement with all the peroxidases so far studied.

Fine-tuning of the binding and dissociation of CO by the amino acids of the heme pocket of Coprinus cinereus peroxidase.

Resonance Raman and infrared spectra and the CO dissociation rates (k(off)) were measured in Coprinus cinereus peroxidase (CIP) and several mutants in the heme binding pocket. These mutants included the Asp245Asn, Arg51Leu, Arg51Gln, Arg51Asn, Arg51Lys, Phe54Trp, and Phe54Val mutants. Binding of CO to CIP produced different CO adducts at pH 6 and 10. At pH 6, the bound CO is H-bonded to the protonated distal His55 residue, whereas at alkaline pH, the vibrational signatures and the rate of CO dissociation indicate a distal side which is more open or flexible than in other plant peroxidases. The distal Arg51 residue is important in determining the rate of dissociation in the acid form, increasing by 8-17-fold in the Arg51 mutants compared to that for the wild-type protein. Replacement of the distal Phe with Trp created a new acid form characterized by vibrational frequencies and k(off) values very similar to those of cytochrome c peroxidase.