Evaluating the sensitivity of hybridization-based epigenotyping using a methyl binding domain protein.

Hypermethylation of CpG islands in gene promoter regions has been shown to be a predictive biomarker for certain diseases. Most current methods for methylation profiling are not well-suited for clinical analysis. Here, we report the development of an inexpensive device and an epigenotyping assay with a format conducive to multiplexed analysis.

Functional heterologous expression and purification of a mammalian methyl-CpG binding domain in suitable yield for DNA methylation profiling assays.

DNA methylation is a major epigenetic modification in mammalian cells, and patterns involving methylation of cytosine bases, known as CpG methylation, have been implicated in the development of many types of cancer. Methyl binding domains (MBDs) excised from larger mammalian methyl-CpG-binding proteins specifically recognize methyl-cytosine bases of CpG dinucleotides in duplex DNA. Previous molecular diagnostic studies involving MBDs have employed Escherichia coli for protein expression with either low soluble yields or the use of time-consuming denaturation-renaturation purification procedures to improve yields. Efficient MBD-based diagnostics require expression and purification methods that maximize protein yield and minimize time and resource expenditure. This study is a systematic optimization analysis of MBD expression using both SDS-PAGE and microscopy and it provides a comparison of protein yield from published procedures to that from the conditions found to be optimal in these experiments. Protein binding activity and specificity were verified using a DNA electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and final protein yield was improved from the starting conditions by a factor of 65 with a simple, single-step purification.

Systematic study of fluorescein-functionalized macrophotoinitiators for colorimetric bioassays.

We report a systematic investigation of a set of photoreducible macrophotoinitiators for use in polymerization-based signal amplification. To test the dependence of photopolymerization responses on the number of photoinitiators localized per molecular recognition event, we gradually increased the number of photoinitiator molecules coupled to a constant scaffold macromolecule from an average of 7 per polymer to an average of 168 per polymer. To evaluate the capacity of the macrophotoinitiators to detect molecular recognition, we coupled neutravidin to these molecules to recognize biotin-labeled DNA immobilized on biochip test surfaces. Fluorescein macroinitiators were found to be useful in detecting molecular recognition above a threshold number of initiators per polymer. Above this threshold, increasing the number of initiators per macroinitiator resulted in increased signal strength. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of increasing the number of photoreducible initiators per binding event beyond three, the number used in previous studies, that the initiation reaction remains limiting in the range we investigated, and that the number of initiators per binding event in this system has a clear impact on assay sensitivity and signal strength.

Using nanobiotechnology to increase the prevalence of epigenotyping assays in precision medicine.

Epigenetic silencing of genes that are important for DNA repair, cell cycle control, apoptosis, and cellular interactions with the extracellular matrix has been causally linked to several subtypes of cancer. Translating this knowledge of the implications of promoter methylation to wide and routine use in clinical pathology laboratories has been more challenging than the case of genetic analyses because epigenetic modifications do not change the underlying sequence of the affected nucleic acid, rendering polymerase chain reaction analysis alone uninformative. Two epigenotyping assays that detect promoter methylation are currently standard of care in treatment of two distinct tumor types in only a few top hospitals across the United States. Both rely on a harsh chemical step that degrades over 90% of tumor DNA samples, which are often available in limited quantities, and imparts the potential for false-negative or false-positive results if the reaction conditions are not exactly correct. Using nanotechnology and biotechnology to devise practical new analysis techniques that avoid the drawbacks of current techniques represents a powerful approach that is likely to significantly increase the clinical use of this class of biomarkers in the coming years. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2017, 9:e1407. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1407 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Characterization and directed evolution of a methyl-binding domain protein for high-sensitivity DNA methylation analysis.

Methyl-binding domain (MBD) family proteins specifically bind double-stranded, methylated DNA which makes them useful for DNA methylation analysis. We displayed three of the core members MBD1, MBD2 and MBD4 on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. Using the yeast display platform, we determined the equilibrium dissociation constant of human MBD2 (hMBD2) to be 5.9 ± 1.3 nM for binding to singly methylated DNA. The measured affinity for DNA with two methylated sites varied with the distance between the sites. We further used the yeast display platform to evolve the hMBD2 protein for improved binding affinity. Affecting five amino acid substitutions doubled the affinity of the wild-type protein to 3.1 ± 1.0 nM. The most prevalent of these mutations, K161R, occurs away from the DNA-binding site and bridges the N- and C-termini of the protein by forming a new hydrogen bond. The F208Y and L170R mutations added new non-covalent interactions with the bound DNA strand. We finally concatenated the high-affinity MBD variant and expressed it in Escherichia coli as a green fluorescent protein fusion. Concatenating the protein from 1× to 3× improved binding 6-fold for an interfacial binding application.