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It has been reported that the complexes formed by hemin and some G‐quadruplexes can be developed as a new class of DNAzyme with peroxidase activity. This kind of DNAzyme has received a great deal of attention. But to date, the actual G‐quadruplex structure that can provide hemin with enhanced peroxidase activity is in doubt. Herein, the G‐quadruplex structure of CatG4, a 21‐nucleotide DNA oligomer which was previously reported to bind hemin and the resulting complex exhibiting enhanced peroxidase activity, was characterized by fluorescence and circular dichroism measurements. The results suggest that the catalytically active form of CatG4 may be a unimolecular parallel quadruplex rather than a unimolecular chair‐type antiparallel quadruplex or a multistranded parallel quadruplex. In addition, the fluorescence analysis of labeled oligonucleotides may be developed as a supplementary tool for the study of DNA conformations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 91: 331–339, 2009. This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The “Published Online” date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com

We propose a new method for hydrogen separation using an oxygen-permeable ceramic membrane, and achieve a high hydrogen separation rate comparable to those of Pd-based membranes and excellent stability under a H2S-containing atmosphere.

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A highly sensitive and selective Ag(+) detection method was developed based on the Ag(+)-mediated formation of G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzymes. In this method, two unlabelled oligonucleotides with different lengths are used. In the absence of Ag(+), the two oligonucleotides hybridize to each other to form an intermolecular duplex. The addition of Ag(+) can disrupt the intermolecular duplex and promote a part of the sequence of the longer oligonucleotide to fold into an intramolecular duplex, in which cytosine-cytosine (C-C) mismatches are stabilized by C-Ag(+)-C base pairs. As a result, the G-rich sequence of the same oligonucleotide can fold into a G-quadruplex, which is able to bind hemin to form a catalytically active G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme. This can be reflected by an absorbance increase when monitored in the H(2)O(2)-ABTS (2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiozoline)-6-sulfonic acid) reaction system by using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. This 'turn-on' process allows the detection of aqueous Ag(+) at concentrations as low as 20 nM using a simple colorimetric technique. Considering that Cysteine (Cys) is a strong binder of Ag(+), the presence of Cys may disrupt the C-Ag(+)-C base pairs in the intramolecular duplex, resulting in the reformation of the intermolecular duplex and the decrease of the catalytic activity of the sensing system. Therefore, the Ag(+)-sensing system can be further developed as a Cys-sensing system. This method allows the detection of Cys with a detection limit of 25 nM. With the development of the studies on DNA-metal base pairs, this Ag(+)-sensing method can be easily extended to the analysis of other metal ions.

Background Cationic polymers have been accepted as effective nonviral vectors for gene delivery with low immunogenicity unlike viral vectors. However, the lack of organ or cell specificity sometimes hampers their application and the modification of polymeric vectors has also shown successful improvements in achieving cell-specific targeting delivery and in promoting intracellular gene transfer efficiency. Methods A folic acid-conjugated stearic acid-grafted chitosan (FA-CS-SA) micelle, synthesized by a 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide-coupling reaction, was designed for specific receptor-mediated gene delivery. Results Due to the cationic properties of chitosan, the micelles could compact the plasmid DNA (pDNA) to form micelle/pDNA complexes nanoparticles. The particle size and zeta potential of the FA-CS-SA/pDNA complexes with different N/P ratios were 100–200 nm and −20 to −10 mV, respectively. The DNase I protection assay indicated that the complexes can efficiently protect condensed DNA from enzymatic degradation by DNase I. A cytotoxicity study indicated that the micelles exhibited less toxicity in comparison with Lipofectamine TM 2000. Using SKOV3 and A549 as model tumor cells, the cellular uptake of micelles was investigated. Conclusion It was found that cellular uptake of FA-CS-SA in SKOV3 cells with higher folate receptor expression was faster than that in A549 cells with a short incubation time. Luciferase assay and green fluorescent protein detection were used to confirm that FA-CS-SA could be an effective gene vector. Transfection efficiency of the FA-CS-SA/pDNA complexes in SKOV3 cells was enhanced up to 2.3-fold compared with that of the CS-SA/pDNA complexes. However, there was no significant difference between the transfection efficiencies of the two complexes in A549 cells. Importantly, the transfection efficiency of FA-CS-SA/pDNA decreased with free FA pretreatment in SKOV3 cells. It was concluded that the increase in transfection efficiency of the FA-CS-SA/pDNA complexes was attributed to folate receptor-mediated endocytosis.

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in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)Catalytic membrane reactors based on oxygen-permeable membranes are recently studied for hydrogen separation because their hydrogen separation rates and separation factors are comparable to those of Pd-based membranes. New membrane materials with high performance and good tolerance to CO 2 and H 2 S impurities are highly desired. In this work, a new membrane material Ce 0.85 Sm 0.15 O 1.925 -Sr 2 Fe 1.5 Mo 0.5 O 6-δ (SDC-SFM) was prepared for hydrogen separation. It exhibits high conductivities at low oxygen partial pressures, which is benefit to electron transfer and ion diffusion. A high hydrogen separation rate of 6.6 mL cm −2 min −1 was obtained on a 0.5-mm-thick membrane coated with Ni/SDC catalyst at 900 C. The membrane reactor was operated steadily for 532 h under atmospheres containing CO 2 and H 2 S impurities. Various characterizations reveal that SDC-SFM has good stability in the membrane reactor for hydrogen separation. All facts confirm that SDC-SFM is promising for hydrogen separation in practical applications.