Biotinyl esters

Amine-reactive biotinylation reagents contain reactive groups off biotin s valeric acid side chain that are able to form covalent bonds with primary amines in proteins and other molecules. Two basic types are commonly available N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) esters and carboxylates. NHS esters spontaneously react with amines to form amide linkages (Chapter 2, Section 1.4),... 

NHS esters of D-biotin have been used in many applications, including the biotinylation of rat IgE to study receptors on murine lymphocytes (Lee and Conrad, 1984), in the development of... 

Immediately before use, dissolve sulfo-NHS-biotin (Thermo Fisher) in water at a concentration of 20 mg/ml. Alternatively, the compound may be dissolved in organic solvent to prevent hydrolysis prior to a reaction (i.e., dry DMF or DMSO). Adjust the concentration and quantity of this stock solution to be prepared according to the amount of reagent needed to biotinylate the desired amount of protein. If prepared in water, the sulfo-NHS-biotin stock solution must be used immediately, since the NHS ester is subject to hydrolysis in aqueous environments. 

Hydrophilic short biotin-PEG tags also have found their way into the design of multifunctional crosslinkers to study protein structures by mass spec. Fujii et al. (2004) developed a homobifunctional NHS ester crosslinker that in addition has a PEG-biotin handle (Figure 18.1). The reagent actually is a trifunctional compound similar to the biotinylated PIR compound... 

The NHS ester compounds are sensitive to hydrolysis in aqueous solution, and they likely will hydrolyze faster than more hydrophobic biotinylation compounds due to their hydrophilic-ity. If a stock solution is made at a higher concentration to facilitate the addition of a small amount to a reaction solution, the initial solution should be made in a water-miscible organic solvent that is dried with a molecular sieve. Suitable solvents include DMAC, DMSO, or DMF. If using DMF, use only highly pure solvent, as it may contain amines that can react with the NHS ester groups (Figure 18.13). 

Dissolve an antibody or protein to be modified at a concentration of l-10mg/ml in 0.1 M sodium phosphate, 0.15M NaCl, pH 1.2-1.5. Lower concentrations of protein may result in decreased reaction yields and require increased quantities of reagent to obtain acceptable levels of biotinylation. Avoid amine-containing buffers or components, such as Tris or imidazole, which will react with the NHS ester and interfere with the biotinylation process. 

Figure 18.15 NHS-chromogenic-PEG3-biotin contains an amine-reactive NHS ester that can be used to label biomolecules through an amide linkage. The chromogenic bis-aryl hydrazone group within the spacer arm of the reagent allows the degree of biotinylation to be quantified by measuring its absorbance at 354 nm. The compound also contains a hydrophilic PEG spacer, which provides greater water solubility.

Biotinylated liposomes usually are created by modification of PE components with an amine-reactive biotin derivative, for example NHS-LC-Biotin (Chapter 11, Section 1). The NHS ester reacts with the primary amine of PE residues, forming an amide bond linkage (Figure 22.19). A better choice of biotinylation agent may be to use the NHS-PEG -biotin compounds (Chapter 18), because the hydrophilic PEG spacer provides better accessibility in the aqueous environment than a hydrophobic biotin spacer. Since the modification occurs at the hydrophilic end of the phospholipid molecule, after vesicle formation the biotin component protrudes out from the liposomal surface. In this configuration, the surface-immobilized biotins are able to bind (strept)avidin molecules present in the outer aqueous medium. 

NHS-LC-biotin is an extended spacer arm derivative of biotin containing an amine-reactive NHS ester (Chapter 11, Section 1). The compound is a popular choice for biotinylating a wide... 

The immobilization proceeded as follows horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was biotinilated with biotinamidocaproate AT-hydroxysuccinimide ester to obtain biotinylated HRP with two biotin molecules per enzyme molecule. Avidin was immobilized on polystyrene support beads using the carbodiimide method. This procedure was followed by an attachment of the disubstituted biotinylated HRP... 

Alternatively, the water-insoluble biotinylated succinimide ester can be first dissolved in fresh distilled dimethylsulfoxide (10 mg/mL), and then added to the IgG solution. 

Many biotinylated succinimide esters are now available. Most of these variations alter the size of the spacer arm between the succinimide coupling group and the biotin. The additional spacers could facilitate avidin binding and, thus, may be critical for some applications (9). 

If a free amino group forms a portion of the protein that is essential for activity (e.g., the antigen-combining site for antibody), biotinylation with the succinimide ester will lower or destroy the activity of the protein, and other methods of labeling should be tried. Biotin hydrazide has been used to modify the carbohydrate moieties of antibodies (10,11). Other alternatives are the thiol-reactive biotin maleimide (12) or biotin iodoacetamide (13). 

Fig. 5.12 On-line continuous-flow monitoring of bioactive compounds using fluorescein-biotin/streptavidin assay. MS instrument Q-ToF2 (Waters) equipped with a Waters Z-spray electrospray (ESI) source. Triplicate injections of (a) biotin-N-succinimidyl ester (m/z 342), (b) N-biotinyl-L-lysine (m/z 373),...

Some researchers have begun to explore the possibihty of combining transition metal catalysts with a protein to generate novel synthetic chemzymes . The transition metal can potentially provide access to novel reaction chemistry with the protein providing the asymmetric environment required for stereoselective transformations. In a recent example from Reetz s group, directed evolution techniques were used to improve the enantioselectivity of a biotinylated metal catalyst linked to streptavidin (Scheme 2.19). The Asn49Val mutant of streptavidin was shown to catalyze the enantioselective hydrogenation of a-acetamidoacrylic acid ester 46 with moderate enantiomeric excess [21]. 

Sometimes, biotinylating reagents may lose their reactivity, typically by hydrolysis of the NHS-ester moiety, it is recommended that the quality of the reagent is checked by biotinylating 1 mg hen egg lysozyme at (3.1) biotin-protein ratio. 

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