Sequencing, proteins reagents

The reagent sequence is specific for endosulfan and phosphamidon. Other insecticides, e.g. organochlorine insecticides, such as endrin, aldrin, dieldrin, DDT and BHC, organophosphorus insecticides, such as malathion, parathion, dimethoate, quinalphos, phorate and fenitrothion, or carbamate insecticides, such as baygon, car-baryl and carbofuran do not react. Neither is there interference from amino acids, peptides or proteins which might be extracted from the biological material together with the pesticides. 

Sequence-specific heteropolymers, as a class of synthetic molecules, are unique in that they must be made by chemical steps that add one monomer unit at a time. Moreover, to create truly protein-like structures, which typically have chain lengths of at least 100 monomers and a diverse set of 20 side chains (or more), extremely efficient and rapid coupHngs under general reaction conditions are necessary. For these reasons, soHd-phase synthesis is typically used, so that excess reagents can be used to drive reactions to completion, and subsequent reaction work-ups are quite rapid. 

While the first 20-30 residues of a peptide can readily be determined by the Edman method, most polypeptides contain several hundred amino acids. Consequently, most polypeptides must first be cleaved into smaller peptides prior to Edman sequencing. Cleavage also may be necessary to circumvent posttranslational modifications that render a protein s a-amino group blocked , or unreactive with the Edman reagent. 

The O-ECAT reagent is a superior alternative to the use of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH Chapter 1, Section 1.1) in the study of protein oxidation. DNPH modification produces detectable complexes, but it does not provide information as to what amino acids are involved. O-ECAT modifies carbonyl end products of protein oxidation and in addition, it can provide exact information as to the amino acids that were oxidized. Mass spec analysis of modified proteins performed after proteolysis gives the exact amino acid sequences including the sites of O-ECAT reagent modification. The same antibody that is specific for the metal chelate portion of the standard ECAT reagent also can be used to capture and detect the O-ECAT... 

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