Effects of signal sequences and folding accessory proteins on extracellular expression of carboxypeptidase Y in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) is a yeast vacuolar protease with useful applications including C-terminal sequencing of peptides and terminal modification of target proteins. To overexpress CPY with the pro-sequence (proCPY) encoded by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PRC1 gene in recombinant S. cerevisiae, the proCPY gene was combined with the gene coding for a signal sequence of S. cerevisiae mating factor α (MFα), invertase (SUC2), or Kluyveromyces marxianus inulinase (INU1). Among the three constructs, the MFα signal sequence gave the best specific activity of extracellular CPY. To enhance the CPY expression level, folding accessory proteins of Kar2p, Pdi1p and Ero1p located in the S. cerevisiae endoplasmic reticulum were expressed individually and combinatorially. A single expression of Kar2p led to a 28 % enhancement in extracellular CPY activity, relative to the control strain of S. cerevisiae CEN.PK2-1D/p426Gal1-MFαCPY. Coexpression of Kar2p, Pdi1p and Ero1p gave a synergistic effect on CPY expression, of which activity was 1.7 times higher than that of the control strain. This work showed that engineering of signal sequences and protein-folding proteins would be helpful to overexpress yeast proteins of interest.

An autonomous CMOS hysteretic sensor for the detection of desorption-free DNA hybridization.

This paper describes a sensor for label-free, fully electrical detection of DNA hybridization based on capacitive changes in the electrode-electrolyte interface. The sensor measures capacitive changes in real time according to a charging-discharging principle that is limited by the hysteresis window. In addition, a novel autonomous searching technique, which exclusively monitors desorption-free hybridized electrodes among electrode arrays, enhances the performance of the sensor compared with conventional capacitive measurement. The sensor system achieves a detection range of 80 dB. The integrated circuit sensor is fabricated with a 0.35 µm CMOS process. The proposed sensor offers rapid, robust and inexpensive measurement of capacitance with highly integrated detection circuitry. It also facilitates quantitative evaluations of molecular densities on a chip with distinctive impedance variations by monitoring desorption-free hybridized electrodes. Our electrical biosensor has great potential for use with bio analytical tools and point-of-care diagnosis.

An electronic DNA sensor chip using integrated capacitive read-out circuit.

This paper presents fully integrated label-free DNA recognition circuit based on capacitance measurement. A CMOS-based DNA sensor is implemented for the electrical detection of DNA hybridization. The proposed architecture detects the difference of capacitance through the integration of current mismatch of capacitance between reference electrodes functionalized with only single-stranded DNA and sensing electrodes bound with complementary DNA strands specifically. In addition, to minimize the effects of parallel resistance between electrodes and DNA layers, the compensation technique of leakage current through the use of constant current charging and discharging is implemented in the proposed detection circuit. The chip was fabricated in 0.35um 4-metal 2-poly CMOS process, and 16 × 8 sensing electrode arrays were fabricated by post-processing steps.

One-chip electronic detection of DNA hybridization using precision impedance-based CMOS array sensor.

This paper describes a label-free and fully electronic detection method of DNA hybridization, which is achieved through the use of a 16×8 microarray sensor in conjunction with a new type of impedance spectroscopy constructed with standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The impedance-based method is based on changes in the reactive capacitance and the charge-transfer resistance after hybridization with complementary DNA targets. In previously published label-free techniques, the measured capacitance presented unstable capacitive properties due to the parallel resistance that is not infinite and can cause a leakage by discharging the charge on the capacitor. This paper presents an impedance extraction method that uses excitation by triangular wave voltage, which enables a reliable measurement of both C and R producing a highly sensitive sensor with a stable operation independent of external variables. The system was fabricated in an industrial 0.35-µm 4-metal 2-poly CMOS process, integrating working electrodes and readout electronics into one chip. The integrated readout, which uses a parasitic insensitive integrator, achieves an enlarged detection range and improved noise performance. The maximum average relative variations of C and R are 31.5% and 68.6%, respectively, after hybridization with a 1 µM target DNA. The proposed sensor allows quantitative evaluation of the molecule densities on the chip with distinguishable variation in the impedance. This fully electronic microsystem has great potential for use with bioanalytical tools and point-of-care diagnosis.