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An aptamer-functionalized chemomechanically modulated biomolecule catch-and-release system

Nature Chemistry volume 7, pages 447–454 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The efficient extraction of (bio)molecules from fluid mixtures is vital for applications ranging from target characterization in (bio)chemistry to environmental analysis and biomedical diagnostics. Inspired by biological processes that seamlessly synchronize the capture, transport and release of biomolecules, we designed a robust chemomechanical sorting system capable of the concerted catch and release of target biomolecules from a solution mixture. The hybrid system is composed of target-specific, reversible binding sites attached to microscopic fins embedded in a responsive hydrogel that moves the cargo between two chemically distinct environments. To demonstrate the utility of the system, we focus on the effective separation of thrombin by synchronizing the pH-dependent binding strength of a thrombin-specific aptamer with volume changes of the pH-responsive hydrogel in a biphasic microfluidic regime, and show a non-destructive separation that has a quantitative sorting efficiency, as well as the system's stability and amenability to multiple solution recycling.

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Figure 1: Design of the chemomechanically modulated biomolecule catch-and-release system.
Figure 2: Computer simulations of the selective binding and release.
Figure 3: Chemomechanically modulated sequential catch and release of thrombin in the microfluidic system.
Figure 4: System performance in multiple oscillation cycles with recycling of the ingoing solution.
Figure 5: Analysis of the components of the top and bottom solutions after cycling.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Department of Energy under Award No. DE-SC0005247. We thank M. Krogsgaard and C. Howell for their help with the XPS characterization of the aptamer functionalization of the microstructures.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yolanda Vasquez, Amitabh Bhattacharya & Yongting Ma

    Present address: Present address: Department of Chemistry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA (Y.V.). Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Maharastra 400 076, India (A.B.). Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA (Y.M.),

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    Ankita Shastri, Lynn M. McGregor, Yolanda Vasquez & Joanna Aizenberg

  2. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA

    Ya Liu, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Yongting Ma, Olga Kuksenok & Anna C. Balazs

  3. Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA

    Valerie Harris & Ximin He

  4. Materials Science and Engineering, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA

    Hanqing Nan, Maritza Mujica & Ximin He

  5. School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    Yolanda Vasquez, Joanna Aizenberg & Ximin He

  6. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    Michael Aizenberg & Joanna Aizenberg

  7. Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    Joanna Aizenberg

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Contributions

X.H., A.S., L.M.M., M.A., A.C.B. and J.A. designed the project. X.H., A.S., L.M.M., M.A., O.K., A.C.B. and J.A. wrote the manuscript. Y.L., A.B., Y.M., O.K. and A.C.B. performed the computational simulations and analysed the results. L.M.M. and V.H. performed the PAGE experiments and analysis, and participated in synthesizing the DNA aptamers. X.H. and A.S. conducted the catch-and-release experiments in the microfluidic system and performed the ELISA analysis. X.H., A.S., H.N., M.M. and V.H. conducted the ELONA experiments. A.S. performed the experiments to determine the pH-dependent behaviour of the aptamers. X.H. performed a confocal microscopy characterization of the system. Y.V., O.K. and M.A. contributed important discussions to the analysis of the results.

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Correspondence to Joanna Aizenberg or Ximin He.

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Shastri, A., McGregor, L., Liu, Y. et al. An aptamer-functionalized chemomechanically modulated biomolecule catch-and-release system. Nature Chem 7, 447–454 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2203

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