Ratiometric analyses at critical temperatures can magnify the signal intensity of FRET-based sugar sensors with periplasmic binding proteins.

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based sensors transduce ligand recognition into a change in the fluorophore spectrum, as ligand binding alters the distance between and orientation of two fluorescent proteins. Here, we report a dramatic increase in the signal intensity of FRET-based sugar sensors with bacterial periplasmic binding proteins (PBPs) in the binding moiety, by increasing the analysis temperature, usually higher than 50°C. The increased signal intensity results from a sudden decrease in background signal at critical temperatures, while recovering the maximum FRET ratios in the presence of ligands. When tested with a maltose sensor using a maltose-binding protein as the binding moiety, the FRET ratio at the critical temperature, 55°C, was 17-fold higher than at ambient temperatures. Similar effects were observed using analogous sensors for allose, arabinose, and glucose, providing highly dynamic and quantitative ratio changes at the critical temperatures. The proposed mechanism underlying the signal improvement is thermal relaxation of the binding proteins at the critical temperature; this hypothesis was supported by the results of intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and circular dichroism experiments. In summary, this study shows that the conformational relaxation of proteins under specific conditions can be leveraged for highly sensitive and rapid measurements of ligands using FRET-based sensors.

A portable FRET analyzer for rapid detection of sugar content.

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is widely used as a core process in biometric sensors to detect small molecules such as sugars, calcium ions, or amino acids. However, FRET based biosensors with innate weak signal intensity require the use of expensive, high-sensitive equipment. In the present study, these shortcomings were overcome with the fabrication of a sensitive, inexpensive, and portable analyzer which provides quantitative detection of small molecules in a liquid sample. The usability of the developed analyzer was successfully tested by measuring sucrose and maltose contents in commercially available beverage samples, with better performance than the conventional monochromator-type spectrofluorometer. It is anticipated that miniaturization of the equipment and improving the FRET based biosensors will contribute to the practical use of this hand-held analyzer in conditions where high-end equipment is not available.

Quantitative analyses of individual sugars in mixture using FRET-based biosensors.

Molecular biosensors were developed and applied to measure individual sugars in biological mixtures such as bacterial culture broths. As the sensing units, four sugar-binding proteins (SBPs for allose, arabinose, ribose, and glucose) were selected from the Escherichia coli genome and connected to a cyan fluorescent protein and yellow fluorescent protein via dipeptide linkers (CFP-L-SBP-YFP). The putative sensors were randomized in the linker region (L) and then investigated with regard to the intensity of fluorescence resonance energy transfer on the binding of the respective sugars. As a result, four representatives were selected from each library and examined for their specificity using 16 available sugars. The apparent dissociation constants of the allose, arabinose, ribose, and glucose sensors were estimated to be 0.35, 0.36, 0.17, and 0.18 µM. Finally, the sugar sensors were applied to monitor the consumption rate of individual sugars in an E. coli culture broth. The individual sugar profiles exhibited a good correlation with those obtained using an HPLC method, confirming that the biosensors offer a rapid and easy-to-use method for monitoring individual sugars in mixed compositions.

Inducible biosynthetic nanoscaffolds as recruitment platforms for detecting molecular target interactions inside living cells.

We present a novel phenotypic readout using inducible, biosynthetic nanoscaffolds to directly visualize dynamic molecular interactions within living cells at the single-cell level with high sensitivity and selectivity. Labeled ferritin is used to form biological nanoparticles inside cells. Specific supramolecular assembly of ferritin-derived nanoparticles induces highly clustered nanoscaffolds. These inducible biosynthetic nanoscaffolds are used as the artificial recruitment/redistribution platform for monitoring interactions of a small molecule with its target protein(s) inside living cells.

Design of a binding scaffold based on variable lymphocyte receptors of jawless vertebrates by module engineering.

Repeat proteins have recently been of great interest as potential alternatives to immunoglobulin antibodies due to their unique structural and biophysical features. We here present the development of a binding scaffold based on variable lymphocyte receptors, which are nonimmunoglobulin antibodies composed of Leucine-rich repeat modules in jawless vertebrates, by module engineering. A template scaffold was first constructed by joining consensus repeat modules between the N- and C-capping motifs of variable lymphocyte receptors. The N-terminal domain of the template scaffold was redesigned based on the internalin-B cap by analyzing the modular similarity between the respective repeat units using a computational approach. The newly designed scaffold, termed "Repebody," showed a high level of soluble expression in bacteria, displaying high thermodynamic and pH stabilities. Ease of molecular engineering was shown by designing repebodies specific for myeloid differentiation protein-2 and hen egg lysozyme, respectively, by a rational approach. The crystal structures of designed repebodies were determined to elucidate the structural features and interaction interfaces. We demonstrate general applicability of the scaffold by selecting repebodies with different binding affinities for interleukin-6 using phage display.

Effects of associated bacteria on the pathogenicity and reproduction of the insect-parasitic nematode Rhabditis blumi (Nematoda: Rhabditida).

Three bacteria, Alcaligenes faecalis , Flavobacterium sp., and Providencia vermicola , were isolated from dauer juveniles of Rhabditis blumi . The pathogenic effects of the bacteria against 4th instar larvae of Galleria mellonella were investigated. Providencia vermicola and Flavobacterium sp. showed 100% mortality at 48 h after haemocoelic injection, whereas A. faecalis showed less than 30% mortality. Dauer juveniles showed 100% mortality against G. mellonella larvae, whereas axenic juveniles, which do not harbor associated bacteria, exhibited little mortality. All of the associated bacteria were used as a food source for nematode growth, and nematode yield differed with bacterial species. Among the bacterial species, P. vermicola was most valued for nematode yield, showing the highest yield of 5.2 × 10(4) nematodes/mL in the plate. In bacterial cocultures using two of the three associated bacteria, one kind stimulated the other. The highest total bacterial yield of 12.6 g/L was obtained when the inoculum ratio of P. vermicola to A. faecalis was 10:1. In air-lift bioreactors, the nematode growth rate increased with an increasing level of dissolved oxygen. The maximum nematode yield of 1.75 × 10(5) nematodes/mL was obtained at 192 h with an aeration rate of 6 vvm.

RhoB induces apoptosis via direct interaction with TNFAIP1 in HeLa cells.

RhoB, a tumor suppressor, has emerged as an interesting cancer target, and extensive studies aimed at understanding its role in apoptosis have been performed. In our study, we investigated the involvement of RhoB-interacting molecules in apoptosis. To identify RhoB-interacting proteins, we performed yeast-two hybrid screening assays using RhoB as a bait and isolated TNFAIP1, a TNFalpha-induced protein containing the BTB/POZ domain. The interaction between RhoB and TNFAIP1 was demonstrated in vivo through coimmunoprecipitation studies and in vitro binding assays. RFP-TNFAIP1 was found to be partially colocalized with EGFP-RhoB. The partial colocalization of RhoB and TNFAIP1 in endosomes suggests that RhoB-TNFAIP1 interactions may have a functional role in apoptosis. TNFAIP1 elicited proapoptotic activity, while simultaneous expression of RhoB and TNFAIP1 resulted in a dramatic increase in apoptosis in HeLa cells. Furthermore, knockdown of RhoB using siRNA clearly rescued cells from apoptosis induced by TNFAIP1. This finding suggests that interactions between RhoB and TNFAIP1 are crucial for induction of apoptosis in HeLa cells. The observation of increased SAPK/JNK phosphorylation in apoptotic cells and the finding that a JNK inhibitor suppressed apoptosis indicates that SAPK/JNK signaling may be involved in apoptosis induced by RhoB-TNFAIP1 interactions. In conclusion, we found that RhoB interacts with TNFAIP1 to regulate apoptosis via a SAPK/JNK-mediated signal transduction mechanism.

Thermostable beta-glycosidase-CBD fusion protein for biochemical analysis of cotton scouring efficiency.

Multidomain proteins for the biochemical analysis of the scouring efficiency of cotton fabrics were constructed by the fusion of a reporter moiety in the N-terminal and the cellulose binding domain (CBD) in the C-terminal. Based on the specific binding of the CBD of Cellulomonas fimi exoglucanase (Cex) to crystalline cellulose (Avicel), the reporter protein is guided to the cellulose fibers that are increasingly exposed as the scouring process proceeds. Among the tested reporter proteins, a thermostable beta-glycosidase (BglA) from Thermus caldophilus was found to be most appropriate, showing a higher applicability and stability than GFP, DsRed, or a tetrameric beta-glucuronidase (GUS) from Escherichia coli, which were precipitated more seriously during the expression and purification steps. When cotton fabrics with different scouring levels were treated with the BglA-CBD and incubated with X-Gal as the chromogenic substrate, an indigo color became visible within 2 h, and the color depth changed according to the conditions and extent of the scouring.

Design and application of highly responsive fluorescence resonance energy transfer biosensors for detection of sugar in living Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells.

A protein sensor with a highly responsive fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) signal for sensing sugars in living Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells was developed by combinatorial engineering of the domain linker and the binding protein moiety. Although FRET sensors based on microbial binding proteins have previously been created for visualizing various sugars in vivo, such sensors are limited due to a weak signal intensity and a narrow dynamic range. In the present study, the length and composition of the linker moiety of a FRET-based sensor consisting of CFP-linker(1)-maltose-binding protein-linker(2)-YFP were redesigned, which resulted in a 10-fold-higher signal intensity. Molecular modeling of the composite linker moieties, including the connecting peptide and terminal regions of the flanking proteins, suggested that an ordered helical structure was preferable for tighter coupling of the conformational change of the binding proteins to the FRET response. When the binding site residue Trp62 of the maltose-binding protein was diversified by saturation mutagenesis, the Leu mutant exhibited an increased binding constant (82 microM) accompanied by further improvement in the signal intensity. Finally, the maltose sensor with optimized linkers was redesigned to create a sugar sensor with a new specificity and a wide dynamic range. When the optimized maltose sensors were employed as in vivo sensors, highly responsive FRET images were generated from real-time analysis of maltose uptake of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast).