抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Signaling Recognition Events with Fluorescent Sensors and Switches.

In the last 10 years the field of molecular diagnostics has witnessed an explosion of interest in the use of nanomaterials in assays for gases, metal ions, and DNA and protein markers for many diseases. Intense research has been fueled by the need for practical, robust, and highly sensitive and selective detection agents that can address the deficiencies of conventional technologies. Chemists are playing an important role in designing and fabricating new materials for application in diagnostic assays. In certain cases assays based upon nanomaterials have offered significant advantages over conventional diagnostic systems with regard to assay sensitivity, selectivity, and practicality. Some of these new methods have recently been reviewed elsewhere with a focus on the materials themselves or as subclassifications in more generalized overviews of biological applications of nanomaterials.1-7 We intend to review some of the major advances and milestones in the field of detection systems based upon nanomaterials and their roles in biodiagnostic screening for nucleic acids, * To whom correspondence should be addressed. Phone: 847-4913907. Fax: 847-467-5123. E-mail: chadnano@northwestern.edu. Nathaniel L. Rosi earned his B.A. degree at Grinnell College (1999) and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan (2003), where he studied the design, synthesis, and gas storage applications of metal−organic frameworks under the guidance of Professor Omar M. Yaghi. In 2003 he began postdoctoral studies as a member of Professor Mirkin’s group at Northwestern University. His current research focuses on the rational assembly of DNA-modified nanostructures into larger-scale materials.

/pdf/nanostructures-in-biodiagnostics-5553cs9yqw.pdf

Nanostructures in Biodiagnostics

Detection of chemical and biological agents plays a fundamental role in biomedical, forensic and environmental sciences1–4 as well as in anti bioterrorism applications.5–7 The development of highly sensitive, cost effective, miniature sensors is therefore in high demand which requires advanced technology coupled with fundamental knowledge in chemistry, biology and material sciences.8–13

In general, sensors feature two functional components: a recognition element to provide selective/specific binding with the target analytes and a transducer component for signaling the binding event. An efficient sensor relies heavily on these two essential components for the recognition process in terms of response time, signal to noise (S/N) ratio, selectivity and limits of detection (LOD).14,15 Therefore, designing sensors with higher efficacy depends on the development of novel materials to improve both the recognition and transduction processes. Nanomaterials feature unique physicochemical properties that can be of great utility in creating new recognition and transduction processes for chemical and biological sensors15–27 as well as improving the S/N ratio by miniaturization of the sensor elements.28

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) possess distinct physical and chemical attributes that make them excellent scaffolds for the fabrication of novel chemical and biological sensors (Figure 1).29–36 First, AuNPs can be synthesized in a straightforward manner and can be made highly stable. Second, they possess unique optoelectronic properties. Third, they provide high surface-to-volume ratio with excellent biocompatibility using appropriate ligands.30 Fourth, these properties of AuNPs can be readily tuned varying their size, shape and the surrounding chemical environment. For example, the binding event between recognition element and the analyte can alter physicochemical properties of transducer AuNPs, such as plasmon resonance absorption, conductivity, redox behavior, etc. that in turn can generate a detectable response signal. Finally, AuNPs offer a suitable platform for multi-functionalization with a wide range of organic or biological ligands for the selective binding and detection of small molecules and biological targets.30–32,36 Each of these attributes of AuNPs has allowed researchers to develop novel sensing strategies with improved sensitivity, stability and selectivity. In the last decade of research, the advent of AuNP as a sensory element provided us a broad spectrum of innovative approaches for the detection of metal ions, small molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, malignant cells, etc. in a rapid and efficient manner.37



Figure 1

Physical properties of AuNPs and schematic illustration of an AuNP-based detection system.



In this current review, we have highlighted the several synthetic routes and properties of AuNPs that make them excellent probes for different sensing strategies. Furthermore, we will discuss various sensing strategies and major advances in the last two decades of research utilizing AuNPs in the detection of variety of target analytes including metal ions, organic molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, and microorganisms.

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Gold nanoparticles in chemical and biological sensing.

I read this book the same weekend that the Packers took on the Rams, and the experience of the latter event, obviously, colored my judgment. Although I abhor anything that smacks of being a handbook (like, \"How to Earn a Merit Badge in Neurosurgery\") because too many volumes in biomedical science already evince a boyscout-like approach, I must confess that parts of this volume are fast, scholarly, and significant, with certain reservations. I like parts of this well-illustrated book because Dr. Sj6strand, without so stating, develops certain subjects on technique in relation to the acquisition of judgment and sophistication. And this is important! So, given that the author (like all of us) is somewhat deficient in some areas, and biased in others, the book is still valuable if the uninitiated reader swallows it in a general fashion, realizing full well that what will be required from the reader is a modulation to fit his vision, propreception, adaptation and response, and the kind of problem he is undertaking. A major deficiency of this book is revealed by comparison of its use of physics and of chemistry to provide understanding and background for the application of high resolution electron microscopy to problems in biology. Since the volume is keyed to high resolution electron microscopy, which is a sophisticated form of structural analysis, but really morphology in a modern guise, the physical and mechanical background of The instrument and its ancillary tools are simply and well presented. The potential use of chemical or cytochemical information as it relates to biological fine structure , however, is quite deficient. I wonder when even sophisticated morphol-ogists will consider fixation a reaction and not a technique; only then will the fundamentals become self-evident and predictable and this sine qua flon will become less mystical. Staining reactions (the most inadequate chapter) ought to be something more than a technique to selectively enhance contrast of morphological elements; it ought to give the structural addresses of some of the chemical residents of cell components. Is it pertinent that auto-radiography gets singled out for more complete coverage than other significant aspects of cytochemistry by a high resolution microscopist, when it has a built-in minimal error of 1,000 A in standard practice? I don't mean to blind-side (in strict football terminology) Dr. Sj6strand's efforts for what is \"routinely used in our laboratory\"; what is done is usually well done. It's just that …

Methods in Enzymology.

Chiral discrimination in the covalent binding of bis(phenanthroline)dichlororuthenium(II) to B-DNA

Here we report the synthesis of luminescent ruthenium complexes that bind DNA base pair mismatches. [Ru(bpy)_2(tpqp)]Cl_2 (tpqp = 7,8,13,14-tetrahydro-6-phenylquino[8,7-k][1,8]phenanthroline), [Ru(bpy)_2(pqp)]Cl_2 (pqp = 6-phenylquino[8,7-k][1,8]phenanthroline), and [Ru(bpy)_2(tactp)]Cl_2 [tactp = 4,5,9,18-tetraazachryseno[9,10-b]triphenylene] have been synthesized, and their spectroscopic properties in the absence and presence of DNA have been examined. While [Ru(bpy)_2(pqp)]^(2+) shows no detectable luminescence, [Ru(bpy)_2(tpqp)]^(2+) is luminescent in the absence and presence of DNA with an excited-state lifetime of 10 ns and a quantum yield of 0.002. Although no increase in emission intensity is associated with binding to mismatch-containing DNA, luminescence quenching experiments and measurements of steady-state fluorescence polarization provide evidence for preferential binding to oligonucleotides containing a CC mismatch. Furthermore, by marking the site of binding through singlet oxygen sensitized damage, the complex has been shown to target a CC mismatch site directly with a specific binding affinity, K_b = 4 × 10^6 M^(-1). [Ru(bpy)_2(tactp)]^(2+), an analogue of [Ru(bpy)_2(dppz)]^(2+) containing a bulky intercalating ligand, is luminescent in aqueous solution at micromolar concentrations and exhibits a 12-fold enhancement in luminescence in the presence of DNA. The complex, however, tends to aggregate in aqueous solution; we find a dimerization constant of 9.8 × 10^5 M^(-1). Again, by singlet oxygen sensitization it is apparent that [Ru(bpy)_2(tactp)]^(2+) binds preferentially to a CC mismatch; using a DNase I footprinting assay, a binding constant to a CC mismatch of 8 × 10^5 M^(-1) is found. Hence results with these novel luminescent complexes support the concept of using a structurally demanding ligand to obtain selectivity in targeting single base mismatches in DNA. The challenge is coupling the differential binding we can obtain to differential luminescence.

(Ru(bpy)2(L))Cl2: Luminescent Metal Complexes That Bind DNA Base Mismatches

Base excision repair (BER) enzymes maintain the integrity of the genome, and in humans, BER mutations are associated with cancer. Given the remarkable sensitivity of DNA-mediated charge transport (CT) to mismatched and damaged base pairs, we have proposed that DNA repair glycosylases (EndoIII and MutY) containing a redox-active [4Fe4S] cluster could use DNA CT in signaling one another to search cooperatively for damage in the genome. Here, we examine this model, where we estimate that electron transfers over a few hundred base pairs are sufficient for rapid interrogation of the full genome. Using atomic force microscopy, we found a redistribution of repair proteins onto DNA strands containing a single base mismatch, consistent with our model for CT scanning. We also demonstrated in Escherichia coli a cooperativity between EndoIII and MutY that is predicted by the CT scanning model. This relationship does not require the enzymatic activity of the glycosylase. Y82A EndoIII, a mutation that renders the protein deficient in DNA-mediated CT, however, inhibits cooperativity between MutY and EndoIII. These results illustrate how repair proteins might efficiently locate DNA lesions and point to a biological role for DNA-mediated CT within the cell.

/pdf/redox-signaling-between-dna-repair-proteins-for-efficient-11cgzzd2p3.pdf

Redox signaling between DNA repair proteins for efficient lesion detection

The binding of Ru(phen)_3^(2+), Rh(phen)_3^(3+), and Co(phen)_3^(3+) to the oligonucleotides d(GTGCAC)_2 and 5'-pd(CGCGCG)_i has been examined by ^1H NMR spectroscopy as a function of temperature, concentration, and chirality of the metal complex. The duplex oligonucleotides act as chiral shift reagents for the metal complexes; phenanthroline protons associated with each enantiomer are resolved upon binding to the oligomer. The spectral titrations, consistent with photophysical studies, indicate that the complexes bind to the oligomer through two modes: one assigned as intercalation favoring the A-isomer, and the other assigned as the surface-bound interaction favoring the Λ-isomer. The ligand protons are perturbed in a
manner that implies sensitivity of particular protons to binding mode; specifically, the H4,7 protons appear
to be altered most for the Λ-enantiomer while the H5,6 protons are perturbed more for the Λ-enantiomer.
The NMR chemical shift variations appear particularly sensitive to this surface-bound interaction, which,
on the basis of a comparison of binding and photophysical parameters for Ru(phen)_3^(3+), appears more
prominant in binding to oligonucleotides than that to polynucleotides. With respect to oligonucleotide proton
shifts, the adenine H2 proton, positioned in the minor groove of the helix, shows the largest upfield shifts
with metal binding, and more dramatically with Λ-isomers. The major groove thymine methyl protons (TMe) shift downfield to a lesser extent, and more so for Λ-isomers. The different binding modes also differ with respect to their dynamics of association; the longitudinal relaxation rates of Δ- and Λ-4,7 phenanthroline protons of Rh(phen)_3^(3+) are 0.88 and 1.14 s, respectively, in the presence of d(GTGCAC)_2. In contrast to studies with the substitutionally inert metal complexes, addition of racemic Co(phen)_3^(3+) to the oligonucleotide solution yields unequal populations of enantiomers, owing to the rapid racemization of the cobalt complex in the presence of oligomer and reequilibration to that form which favors binding. Duplex melting has also been monitored by ^1H NMR spectroscopy; the complexes increase the duplex melting temperature by ~5 oC. In the case of Co(phen)_3^(3+), with increasing temperature, as the helix melts, a reequlibration of the enantiomers occurs, indicating that the chiral discrimination arises from enantioselective interactions with the helix rather than with the single-stranded oligonucleotides.

Jacqueline K. Barton

Papers

Chiral discrimination in the covalent binding of bis(phenanthroline)dichlororuthenium(II) to B-DNA

(Ru(bpy)2(L))Cl2: Luminescent Metal Complexes That Bind DNA Base Mismatches

Redox signaling between DNA repair proteins for efficient lesion detection

1H NMR studies of tris(phenanthroline) metal complexes bound to oligonucleotides: characterization of binding modes.

Targeting a ruthenium complex to the nucleus with short peptides