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Beverage spoilage yeast detection methods and control technologies: A review of Brettanomyces.
Tubia, I, Prasad, K, Pérez-Lorenzo, E, Abadín, C, Zumárraga, M, Oyanguren, I, Barbero, F, Paredes, J, Arana, S
International journal of food microbiology. 2018;:65-76
Abstract
Spoilage yeasts detection is the key to improve the quality of alcoholic fermentation beverages such as wine and cider. The metabolic activity of the spoilage yeast causes irreparable damage to many liters of final products every year. Therefore, winemakers and cider-house companies suffer a substantial economic impact. Thus, over the years, many detection techniques have been proposed to control the occurrence of spoilage yeast. Out of the many spoilage yeast genera, Brettanomyces is one of the most commonly encountered in the beverage industry. Leveraging its ability to thrive in wine and cider conditions (low pH, high levels of ethanol, and low oxygenation levels), Brettanomyces can proliferate inside beverage production tanks. Moreover, their resultant by products reduce the quality of the beverage. While the beverage industry has made great strides in detecting harmful organisms, gaps remain. Traditional methods such as microscopy, cell plating, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, etc. are often imprecise, expensive, and/or complicated. New emerging spoilage yeast detection platforms, such as biosensors and microfluidic devices, aim to alleviate these constraints. Novel platforms have already demonstrated great promise to be a real alternative for in situ and fast detection in the beverage industry. Finally, the review discusses the potential of emerging spoilage yeast detection and treatment methods.
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2.
A three-dimensional graphene-based ratiometric signal amplification aptasensor for MUC1 detection.
Yang, S, Zhang, F, Liang, Q, Wang, Z
Biosensors & bioelectronics. 2018;:85-92
Abstract
A three-dimensional graphene-based ratiometric signal amplification aptasensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of mucin1 (MUC1) by electrochemical method has been developed. Au-reduced graphene oxide (Au-RGO) composite, which was synthesized through hydrothermal reaction and freeze-drying treatment, was used as substrate for fabricating the sensor interface on glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The application of Au-RGO is beneficial for improving electrochemical performance and immobilizing aptamer. Ferrocene labeled aptamer (Fc-Apt), grafting on Au-RGO composite, worked for specific recognition of MUC1 and as internal reference to improve the detection accuracy. Au nanoparticle modified with methyl blue labeled aptamer (MB-Apt@Au) was adopted to combine with MUC1 that captured on the electrode surface to amplify the electrical signal. Under optimal experimental conditions, this sensor was applied to detect a series concentration of MUC1 solution by alternating current voltammetry method. The aptasensor shows satisfactory detection results with a wide linear range of 1 pM to 1 µM, a low detection limit of 0.25 pM and good specificity. The good performance of the prepared electrochemical aptasensor implies that this method has potential for MUC1 detection, and it would be promising for early screening and diagnosis of cancer diseases. The proposed method also lays an important foundation for preparing ratiometric signal amplification aptasensor for other biomarkers detection.
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3.
The Applications of Promoter-gene-Engineered Biosensors.
Feng, Y, Xie, Z, Jiang, X, Li, Z, Shen, Y, Wang, B, Liu, J
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). 2018;(9)
Abstract
A promoter is a small region of a DNA sequence that responds to various transcription factors, which initiates a particular gene expression. The promoter-engineered biosensor can activate or repress gene expression through a transcription factor recognizing specific molecules, such as polyamine, sugars, lactams, amino acids, organic acids, or a redox molecule; however, there are few reported applications of promoter-enhanced biosensors. This review paper highlights the strategies of construction of promoter gene-engineered biosensors with human and bacteria genetic promoter arrays with regard to high-throughput screening (HTS) molecular drugs, the study of the membrane protein's localization and nucleocytoplasmic shuttling mechanism of regulating factors, enzyme activity, detection of the toxicity of intermediate chemicals, and probing bacteria density to improve value-added product titer. These biosensors' sensitivity and specificity can be further improved by the proposed approaches of Mn2+ and Mg2+ added random e error-prone PCR that is a technique used to generate randomized genomic libraries and site-directed mutagenesis approach, which is applied for the construction of bacteria's "mutant library". This is expected to establish a flexible HTS platform (biosensor array) to large-scale screen transcription factor-acting drugs, reduce the toxicity of intermediate compounds, and construct a gene-dynamic regulatory system in "push and pull" mode, in order to effectively regulate the valuable medicinal product production. These proposed novel promoter-engineered biosensors aiding in synthetic genetic circuit construction will maximize the efficiency of the bio-synthesis of medicinal compounds, which will greatly promote the development of microbial metabolic engineering and biomedical science.
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Recent advances in designing nanomaterial based biointerfaces for electrochemical biosensing cardiovascular biomarkers.
Farzin, L, Shamsipur, M, Samandari, L, Sheibani, S
Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. 2018;:344-376
Abstract
Early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is critically important for successful treatment and recovery of patients. At present, detection of CVD at early stages of its progression becomes a major issue for world health. The nanoscale electrochemical biosensors exhibit diverse outstanding properties, rendering them extremely suitable for the determination of CVD biomarkers at very low concentrations in biological fluids. The unique advantages offered by electrochemical biosensors in terms of sensitivity and stability imparted by nanostructuring the electrode surface together with high affinity and selectivity of bioreceptors have led to the development of new electrochemical biosensing strategies that have introduced as interesting alternatives to conventional methodologies for clinical diagnostics of CVD. This review provides an updated overview of selected examples during the period 2005-2018 involving electrochemical biosensing approaches and signal amplification strategies based on nanomaterials, which have been applied for determination of CVD biomarkers. The studied CVD biomarkers include AXL receptor tyrosine kinase, apolipoproteins, cholesterol, C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, fibrinogen (Fib), glucose, insulin, interleukins, lipoproteins, myoglobin, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and troponins (Tns) on electrochemical transduction format. Identification of new specific CVD biomarkers, multiplex bioassay for the simultaneous determination of biomarkers, emergence of microfluidic biosensors, real-time analysis of biomarkers and point of care validation with high sensitivity and selectivity are the major challenges for future research.
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5.
Methods for Using a Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Biosensor to Monitor Nuclear NAD<sup/>.
Cohen, MS, Stewart, ML, Goodman, RH, Cambronne, XA
Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). 2018;:391-414
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Abstract
Free nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) serves as substrate for NAD+-consuming enzymes. As such, the local concentration of free NAD+ can influence enzymatic activities. Here we describe methods for using a fluorescent, genetically-encoded sensor to measure subcellular NAD+ concentrations. We also include a discussion of the limitations and potential applications for the current sensor. Presented in this chapter are (1) guidelines for calibrating instrumentation and experimental setups using a bead-based method, (2) instructions for incorporating required controls and properly performing ratiometric measurements in cells, and (3) descriptions of how to evaluate relative and quantitative fluctuations using appropriate statistical methods for ratio-of-ratio measurements.
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6.
Optical Sensors for Detection of Amino Acids.
Pettiwala, AM, Singh, PK
Current medicinal chemistry. 2018;(19):2272-2290
Abstract
BACKGROUND Amino acids are crucially involved in a myriad of biological processes. Any aberrant changes in physiological level of amino acids often manifest in common metabolic disorders, serious neurological conditions and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, devising methods for detection of trace amounts of amino acids becomes highly elemental to their efficient clinical diagnosis. Recently, the domain of developing optical sensors for detection of amino acids has witnessed significant activity which is the focus of the current review article. METHODS We undertook a detailed search of the peer-reviewed literature that primarily deals with optical sensors for amino acids and focuses on the use of different type of materials as a sensing platform. RESULTS Ninety-five papers have been included in the review, majority of which deal with optical sensors. We attempt to systematically classify these contributions based on the applications of various chemical and biological scaffolds such as polymers, supramolecular assemblies, nanoparticles, DNA, heparin etc for the sensing of amino acids. This review identifies that supramolecular assemblies and nanomaterial continue to be commonly used platforms to devise sensors for amino acids followed by surfactant assemblies. CONCLUSION The broad implications of amino acids in human health and diagnosis have stirred a lot of interest to develop optimized optical detection systems for amino acids in recent years, using different materials based on chemical and biological scaffolds. We have also attempted to highlight the merits and demerits of some of the noteworthy sensor systems to instigate further efforts for constructing amino acids sensor based on unconventional concepts.
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Genetically Encoded Biosensors in Plants: Pathways to Discovery.
Walia, A, Waadt, R, Jones, AM
Annual review of plant biology. 2018;:497-524
Abstract
Genetically encoded biosensors that directly interact with a molecule of interest were first introduced more than 20 years ago with fusion proteins that served as fluorescent indicators for calcium ions. Since then, the technology has matured into a diverse array of biosensors that have been deployed to improve our spatiotemporal understanding of molecules whose dynamics have profound influence on plant physiology and development. In this review, we address several types of biosensors with a focus on genetically encoded calcium indicators, which are now the most diverse and advanced group of biosensors. We then consider the discoveries in plant biology made by using biosensors for calcium, pH, reactive oxygen species, redox conditions, primary metabolites, phytohormones, and nutrients. These discoveries were dependent on the engineering, characterization, and optimization required to develop a successful biosensor; they were also dependent on the methodological developments required to express, detect, and analyze the readout of such biosensors.
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Sense and sensibility: the use of fluorescent protein-based genetically encoded biosensors in plants.
Hilleary, R, Choi, WG, Kim, SH, Lim, SD, Gilroy, S
Current opinion in plant biology. 2018;:32-38
Abstract
Fluorescent protein-based biosensors are providing us with an unprecedented, quantitative view of the dynamic nature of the cellular networks that lie at the heart of plant biology. Such bioreporters can visualize the spatial and temporal kinetics of cellular regulators such as Ca2+ and H+, plant hormones and even allow membrane transport activities to be monitored in real time in living plant cells. The fast pace of their development is making these tools increasingly sensitive and easy to use and the rapidly expanding biosensor toolkit offers great potential for new insights into a wide range of plant regulatory processes. We suggest a checklist of controls that should help avoid some of the more cryptic issues with using these bioreporter technologies.
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Detection of catalase activity with aldehyde-doped liquid crystals confined in microcapillaries.
Rim, J, Jang, CH
Analytical biochemistry. 2018;:19-23
Abstract
In this study, a simple, rapid, and label-free sensor was developed for detecting the enzymatic activity of catalase (CAT) with liquid crystals (LCs) confined in microcapillaries. Inside a microcapillary functionalized with n-octyltrichlorosilane, aldehyde-doped LCs anchored radially so that a pattern of straight lines was observed under a polarized optical microscope (POM). However, once hydrogen peroxide (HP) oxidized the aldehyde into carboxylic acid, which has surface activity, the orientation of the LCs at the interface changed, resulting in a distinct pattern change, from straight to crossed. In this system, the enzymatic activity of CAT could be detected as it inhibits the oxidation by decomposing HP; as a result, the pattern changed back to the straight one. From the orientational and optical shift, the enzymatic activity of CAT was detected up to a concentration of 0.8 fM under mild experimental conditions and 8 aM at pH 9.0. This result suggests the need for further study of microcapillary systems to develop simple and sensitive sensors for biochemical interactions.
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10.
Innovative Development of Contact Lenses.
Kobashi, H, Ciolino, JB
Cornea. 2018;(Suppl 1):S94-S98
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Abstract
Contact lenses have been a common means of vision correction for more than half a century. Recent developments have raised the possibility that the next few decades will see a considerable broadening of the range of applications for contact lenses, with associated expansions in the number and type of individuals who consider them a valuable option. The novel applications of contact lenses include treatment platforms for myopic progression, biosensors, and ocular drug delivery. Orthokeratology has shown the most consistent treatment for myopia control with the least side effects. Recent work has resulted in commercialization of a device to monitor intraocular pressure for up to 24 hours, and extensive efforts are underway to develop a contact lens sensor capable of continuous glucose tear film monitoring for the management of diabetes. Other studies on drug-eluting contact lenses have focused on increasing the release duration through molecular imprinting, use of vitamin E, and increased drug binding to polymers by sandwiching a poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) layer in the lens. This review demonstrates the potential for contact lenses to provide novel opportunities for refractive management, diagnosis, and management of diseases.