Binary Complementary Filters for Compressive Raman Spectroscopy.

The previously described optimized binary compressive detection (OB-CD) strategy enables fast hyperspectral Raman (and fluorescence) spectroscopic analysis of systems containing two or more chemical components. However, each OB-CD filter collects only a fraction of the scattered photons and the remainder of the photons are lost. Here, we present a refinement of OB-CD, the OB-CD2 strategy, in which all of the collected Raman photons are detected using a pair of complementary binary optical filters that direct photons of different colors to two photon counting detectors. The OB-CD2 filters are generated using a new optimization algorithm described in this work and implemented using a holographic volume diffraction grating and a digital micromirror device (DMD) whose mirrors are programed to selectively direct photons of different colors either to one or the other photon-counting detector. When applied to pairs of pure liquids or two-component solid powder mixtures, the resulting OB-CD2 strategy is shown to more accurately estimate Raman scattering rates of each chemical component, when compared to the original OB-CD, thus facilitating chemical classification at speeds as fast as 3 µs per measurement and the collection of Raman images in under a second.

Joule Heating and Thermal Denaturation of Proteins in Nano-ESI Theta Tips.

Electro-osmotically induced Joule heating in theta tips and its effect on protein denaturation were investigated. Myoglobin, equine cytochrome c, bovine cytochrome c, and carbonic anhydrase II solutions were subjected to electro-osmosis in a theta tip and all of the proteins were denatured during the process. The extent of protein denaturation was found to increase with the applied square wave voltage and electrolyte concentration. The solution temperature at the end of a theta tip was measured directly by Raman spectroscopy and shown to increase with the square wave voltage, thereby demonstrating the effect of Joule heating through an independent method. The electro-osmosis of a solution comprised of myoglobin, bovine cytochrome c, and ubiquitin demonstrated that the magnitude of Joule heating that causes protein denaturation is positively correlated with protein melting temperature. This allows for a quick determination of a protein's relative thermal stability. This work establishes a fast, novel method for protein conformation manipulation prior to MS analysis and provides a temperature-controllable platform for the study of processes that take place in solution with direct coupling to mass spectrometry. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Fluorescence modeling for optimized-binary compressive detection Raman spectroscopy.

The recently-developed optimized binary compressive detection (OB-CD) strategy has been shown to be capable of using Raman spectral signatures to rapidly classify and quantify liquid samples and to image solid samples. Here we demonstrate that OB-CD can also be used to quantitatively separate Raman and fluorescence features, and thus facilitate Raman-based chemical analyses in the presence of fluorescence background. More specifically, we describe a general strategy for fitting and suppressing fluorescence background using OB-CD filters trained on third-degree Bernstein polynomials. We present results that demonstrate the utility of this strategy by comparing classification and quantitation results obtained from liquids and powdered mixtures, both with and without fluorescence. Our results demonstrate high-speed Raman-based quantitation in the presence of moderate fluorescence. Moreover, we show that this OB-CD based method is effective in suppressing fluorescence of variable shape, as well as fluorescence that changes during the measurement process, as a result of photobleaching.

Digital compressive chemical quantitation and hyperspectral imaging.

Digital compressive detection, implemented using optimized binary (OB) filters, is shown to greatly increase the speed at which Raman spectroscopy can be used to quantify the composition of liquid mixtures and to chemically image mixed solid powders. We further demonstrate that OB filters can be produced using multivariate curve resolution (MCR) to pre-process mixture training spectra, thus facilitating the quantitation of mixtures even when no pure chemical component samples are available for training.

Evaluating the activity of the RNA polymerase inhibitor myxopyronin B against Staphylococcus aureus.

Myxopyronin B (MyxB) binds to the switch region of RNA polymerase (RNAP) and inhibits transcriptional initiation. To evaluate the potential development of MyxB as a novel class of antibiotic, we characterized the antimicrobial activity of MyxB against Staphylococcus aureus. Spontaneous MyxB resistance in S. aureus occurred at a frequency of 8 × 10(-8) , similar to that of rifampin. The MyxB-resistant mutants were found to be altered in single amino acid residues in the RNAP subunits that form the MyxB-binding site. In the presence of human serum albumin, the MyxB minimum inhibitory concentration against S. aureus increased drastically (≥128-fold) and 99.5% of MyxB was protein bound. Because of the high serum protein binding and resistance rate, we conclude that MyxB is not a viable starting point for antibiotic development.