Cysteines detection

Ozoemena, K., P. Westbroek, and T. Nyokong (2001). Long-term stability of a gold electrode modified with a self-assembled monolayer of octabntylthiophthalocyaninato-cobalt(II) towards L-cysteine detection. Electrochem. Commun. 3, 529-534. 

However, the peak was somewhat more clearly defined for the BDD electrode than for the GC electrode. It also has been observed that there is a slight adsorption of either reactant or product, as evidenced by a slight change in the background voltammogram. The results presented in this work have shown that it is very promising to use diamond electrodes for cysteine detection, without the use of mercury or surface modification. 

For the detection of the ergot alkaloids 0.2 g o-phthalaldehyde in 100 ml cone, sulfuric acid ( ) [15] or buffer solution is employed as spray solution. Cysteine [11, 12, 15, 19] or sulfurous acid [17] is occasionally substituted for mercapto-ethanol. 

The mixture of free amino acids is reacted with OPA (Fig. 7-8) and a thiol compound. When an achiral thiol compound is used, a racemic isoindole derivative results. These derivatives from different amino acids can be used to enhance the sensitivity of fluorescence detection. Figure 7-9 shows the separation of 15 amino acids after derivatization with OPA and mercaptothiol the racemic amino acids may be separated on a reversed-phase column. If the thiol compound is unichiral, the amino acid enantiomers may be separated as the resultant diastereomeric isoindole compound in the same system. Figure 7-10 shows the separation of the same set of amino acids after derivatization with the unichiral thiol compound Wisobutyryl-L-cysteine (IBLC). 

The advantages of this method are a short reaction time and the nonfluorescence of the OPA reagent. Therefore, excess reagent must not be removed before the chromatography stage. Using this method, it is possible to measure tryptophan, but not secondary amino acids such as proline or hydroxyproline. Cysteine and cystine can be measured, but because of the low fluorescence of their derivatives, they must be detected using an UV system, or alternatively oxidized to cysteic acid before reaction. 

Fig.7-10. Separation of amino acids after derivatization with OPA and A -isobu-tyryl-L-cysteine. Column Superspher 100 RP-18 (4 pm) LiChroCART 125-4, mobile phase 50 mM sodium acetate buffer pH 7.0/sodium acetate buffer pH 5.3/methanol, flowrate 1.0 ml min temperature 25 °C detection fluorescence, excitation 340 nm/emission 445 nm. Sample amino acid standard mixture. (Merck KGaA Application note W219189 reproduced with permission from H. P. Fitznar, Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research.)...

Peptidases have been classified by the MEROPS system since 1993 [2], which has been available viatheMEROPS database since 1996 [3]. The classification is based on sequence and structural similarities. Because peptidases are often multidomain proteins, only the domain directly involved in catalysis, and which beais the active site residues, is used in comparisons. This domain is known as the peptidase unit. Peptidases with statistically significant peptidase unit sequence similarities are included in the same family. To date 186 families of peptidase have been detected. Examples from 86 of these families are known in humans. A family is named from a letter representing the catalytic type ( A for aspartic, G for glutamic, M for metallo, C for cysteine, S for serine and T for threonine) plus a number. Examples of family names are shown in Table 1. There are 53 families of metallopeptidases (24 in human), 14 of aspartic peptidases (three of which are found in human), 62 of cysteine peptidases (19 in human), 42 of serine peptidases (17 in human), four of threonine peptidases (three in human), one of ghitamicpeptidases and nine families for which the catalytic type is unknown (one in human). It should be noted that within a family not all of the members will be peptidases. Usually non-peptidase homologues are a minority and can be easily detected because not all of the active site residues are conserved. 

In aqueous solutions at pH 7, there is little evidence of complex formation between [MesSnflV)] and Gly. Potentiometric determination of the formation constants for L-Cys, DL-Ala, and L-His with the same cation indicates that L-Cys binds more strongly than other two amino acids (pKi ca. 10,6, or 5, respectively). Equilibrium and spectroscopic studies on L-Cys and its derivatives (S-methyl-cystein (S-Me-Cys), N-Ac-Cys) and the [Et2Sn(IV)] system showed that these ligands coordinate the metal ion via carboxylic O and the thiolic 5 donor atoms in acidic media. In the case of S-Me-Cys, the formation of a protonated complex MLH was also detected, due to the stabilizing effect of additional thioether coordination. ... 

Note o-Phthaldehyde in the presence of mercaptoethanol or cysteine has already been discussed as a reagent [4]. The present monograph describes the use of o-phthal-aldehyde in the presence of sulfuric add. There are, in addition, a number of applications, which have been described, employing o-phthalaldehyde without any additives e. g. for the detection of primary arylamines, histamine, histidine and histidylpeptides [5-71. 

Another type of cardiomyopathy is termed dilated cardiomyopathy. Mutations in the genes encoding dystrophin, muscle LIM protein (so called because it was found to contain a cysteine-tich domain originally detected in three proteins Lin-II, Isl-1, and Mec-3), and the cyclic response-element binding ptotein (CREB) have been implicated in the causation of this condition. The first two proteins help organize the conttactile ap-params of cardiac muscle cells, and CREB is involved... 

There are four disulfide bonds in short-chain (Type I) neurotoxins. This means that there are eight half-cystines. However, all Hydrophiinae toxins have nine halfcystines with one cysteine residue. An extra cysteine residue can be readily detected from the Raman spectrum as the sulfhydryl group shows a distinct S-H stretching vibration at 2578 cm" Some Laticaudinae toxins do not have a free cysteine residue as in the cases of L. laticaudata and L. semifasciata toxins. In long toxins (Type II) there are five disulfide bonds (Table III). 

PelZ is a hydrophilic protein of 420 amino acids with a short hydrophobic sequence at its N-terminal end which has Ae characteristics of the signal sequences of exported proteins. The signal peptide may be 24 amino acids long, which would corroborate wiA the usual length encountered in prokaryotes. The molecular cloning of the pelZ gene in an expression vector pT7-6 allowed for the specific 35S-cysteine-methionine raAo-labelling of PelZ in E. coli K38. We could detect, in crude extracts, the presence of a precursor and a mature form of PelZ. After cell fractionation, Ae mature form of PelZ could be localized in Ae periplasm of E. coli. So PelZ appears to be a protein exported by Ae Sec-dependent system of translocation. 

In a different way, metallic-core nanoparticles [346-349] (prepared cf. Section 3.10) equipped with biocompatible coats such as L-cysteine or dextrane may be exploited for highly efficient and cell-specific cancer cell targeting, i.e., for improving diagnosis and therapy of human cancer. In a recent proof-of-principle experiment an unexpectedly low toxicity of the L-cysteine-covered cobalt nanoparticles was demonstrated [433] For diagnostic purposes, it is expected to use the advantageous magnetic properties of the metallic-core nanoparticles to obtain a contrast medium for MRI with considerably increased sensitivity, capable to detect micro-metastases in the environment of healthy tissues [434 37]. 

In contrast to the lability of certain dN adducts formed by the BHT metabolite above, amino acid and protein adducts formed by this metabolite were relatively stable.28,29 The thiol of cysteine reacted most rapidly in accord with its nucleophilic strength and was followed in reactivity by the a-amine common to all amino acids. This type of amine even reacted preferentially over the e-amine of lysine.28 In proteins, however, the e-amine of lysine and thiol of cysteine dominate reaction since the vast majority of a-amino groups are involved in peptide bonds. Other nucleophilic side chains such as the carboxylate of aspartate and glutamate and the imidazole of histidine may react as well, but their adducts are likely to be too labile to detect as suggested by the relative stability of QMs and the leaving group ability of the carboxylate and imidazole groups (see Section 9.2.3). 

Vandeberg, P. J. and Johnson, D. C., Pulsed electrochemical detection of cysteine, cystine, methionine, and glutathione at gold electrodes following their separation by liquid chromatography, Anal. Chem., 65, 2713, 1993. 

As a more sensitive detection method, MS can be very useful in amino acid determinations. For example, S-carboxymethyl-(R) cysteine or SCMC, is a mucolytic agent used in the treatment of respiratory diseases. The development of a method utilizing high performance IEC and atmospheric pressure ionization (API) mass spectrometry to quantify SCMC in plasma has been described.66 This method is simple (no derivatization needed), rapid (inn time 16 min.), sensitive (limit of quantification 200 ng/mL in human plasma), and has an overall throughput of more than 60 analyses per day. API-MS was used successfully with IEC to determine other sulfur-containing amino acids and their cyclic compounds in human urine.67 IEC has also been used as a cleanup step for amino acids prior to their derivatization and analysis by gas chromatography (GC), either alone or in conjunction with MS.68 69... 

Eskinja, M., Lamprecht, G., Scherer, G., and Schmid, E. R., Assay of S-ethyl-N-acetyl-L-cysteine in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography using post-column reaction detection, /. Chromatogr. B, 704, 159, 1997. 

Simple etching of the capillary end served to decouple the electrophoretic current from that of amperometric detection, permitting quantitation of attomole levels of catecholamines from brain microdialyzates.24 A postcolumn reactor using bromine generated electrochemically in situ has been used in the detection of peptide thiols, such as glutathione and cysteine, separated by capillary electrophoresis.25... 

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