[Reflectance characteristics of rare earth solution with different concentrations].

In the present paper, ten aqueous samples which contain-different concentrations of REE were collected in south Jiangxi province, and the reflectance spectra and the concentrations of REE were measured by analytical spectral devices (ASD) FieldSpec-3 reflectance spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), respectively. The results show that the spectra presented mix characteristics of pure water and rare earth oxide. In addition, six diagnostic absorption features caused by REE in visible and near-infrared wavelengths were detected. Then, relative absorption depths of the six absorption wavelength were calculated by the ratio spectra of sample spectra and pure water spectra. Finally, concentrations of total REE of ten samples and relative absorption depths of the six absorption wavelength were selected as two factors, and their relationship was perfectly described using linear regression analysis in which correlation coefficient was up to 96%-97%. The study provides a new method for quantitative estimation of different concentrations of dissolved REE in aqueous media, and strengthens theoretical basis for hyperspectral information extraction of REE.

An in vitro assay for enzymatic studies on human ALG13/14 heterodimeric UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase.

The second step of eukaryotic lipid-linked oligosaccharide (LLO) biosynthesis is catalyzed by the conserved ALG13/ALG14 heterodimeric UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (GnTase). In humans, mutations in ALG13 or ALG14 lead to severe neurological disorders with a multisystem phenotype, known as ALG13/14-CDG (congenital disorders of glycosylation). How these mutations relate to disease is unknown because to date, a reliable GnTase assay for studying the ALG13/14 complex is lacking. Here we describe the development of a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based quantitative GnTase assay using chemically synthesized GlcNAc-pyrophosphate-dolichol as the acceptor and purified human ALG13/14 dimeric enzyme. This assay enabled us to demonstrate that in contrast to the literature, only the shorter human ALG13 isoform 2, but not the longer isoform 1 forms a functional complex with ALG14 that participates in LLO synthesis. The longer ALG13 isoform 1 does not form a complex with ALG14 and therefore lacks GnTase activity. Importantly, we further established a quantitative assay for GnTase activities of ALG13- and ALG14-CDG variant alleles, demonstrating that GnTase deficiency is the cause of ALG13/14-CDG phenotypes.

Recent Progress in Chemo-Enzymatic Methods for the Synthesis of N-Glycans.

Asparagine (N)-linked glycosylation is one of the most common co- and post-translational modifications of both intra- and extracellularly distributing proteins, which directly affects their biological functions, such as protein folding, stability and intercellular traffic. Production of the structural well-defined homogeneous N-glycans contributes to comprehensive investigation of their biological roles and molecular basis. Among the various methods, chemo-enzymatic approach serves as an alternative to chemical synthesis, providing high stereoselectivity and economic efficiency. This review summarizes some recent advances in the chemo-enzymatic methods for the production of N-glycans, including the preparation of substrates and sugar donors, and the progress in the glycosyltransferases characterization which leads to the diversity of N-glycan synthesis. We discuss the bottle-neck and new opportunities in exploiting the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of N-glycans based on our research experiences. In addition, downstream applications of the constructed N-glycans, such as automation devices and homogeneous glycoproteins synthesis are also described.