RSC Adv.

Developing new biomaterials is an active research area owing to their applications in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and drug delivery. Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are good candidates for these applications because they are biosourced, biocompatible and biodegradable. With the aim of developing ELP-based micelles for drug delivery applications we have synthesized 15 acyl-ELP compounds by conjugating myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic or linoleic acid to the N-terminus of three ELPs differing in molar mass. The ELP-fatty acid conjugates have interesting solution behavior. They form micelles at low temperatures and aggregate above the cloud point temperature (Tcp). The critical micelle concentration depends on the fatty acid nature while the micelle size is mainly determined by the ELP block length. We were able to show that ELPs were better hydrated in the micelles than in their individual state in solution. The micelles are stable in phosphate-buffer saline at temperatures below the Tcp, which can vary between 20 °C and 38 °C depending on the length or hydrophilicity of the ELP. Acyl-ELP micelles were loaded with the small hydrophobic molecule Nile red. The encapsulation efficiency and release kinetics showed that the best loading conditions were achieved with the largest ELP conjugated to stearic acid

Oxidative Transformation of Dihydroflavonols and Flavan-3-ols by Anthocyanidin Synthase from Vitis vinifera

Twelve polyphenols from three distinct families (dihydroflavonols, flavan-3-ols, and flavanones) were studied as potential substrates of anthocyanidin synthase from Vitis vinifera (VvANS). Only flavan-3-ols of (2R,3S) configuration having either a catechol or gallol group on ring B are accepted as substrates. Only dihydroflavonols of (2R,3R) configuration are accepted as substrates, but a catechol or gallol group is not mandatory. Flavanones are not substrates of VvANS. HPLC and MS/MS analyses of the enzymatic products showed that the VvANS-catalyzed oxidative transformation of (+)-dihydroflavonols, such as dihydroquercetin, dihydrokaempferol and dihydromyricetin, leads only to the corresponding flavonols. Among the flavan-3-ols recognized as substrates, (+)-gallocatechin was only transformed into delphinidin by VvANS, whereas (+)-catechin was transformed into three products, including two major products that were an ascorbate–cyanidin adduct and a dimer of oxidized catechin, and a minor product that was cyanidin. Data from real-time MS monitoring of the enzymatic transformation of (+)-catechin suggest that its products are all derived from the initial C3-hydroxylation intermediate, i.e., a 3,3-gem-diol, and their most likely formation mechanism is discussed

Targeting of single stranded oligonucleotides through metal-induced cyclization of short complementary strands: Targeting of single stranded oligonucleotides

International audienceA new strategy to cyclize a short synthetic oligonucleotide on a DNA or a RNA target strand is described. This one relies on a metal-mediated cyclization of short synthetic oligonucleotides conjugated with two chelating 2,2':6',2”-terpyridine moieties at their 3' and 5' ends. Cyclization following metal addition (Zn2+, Fe2+) was demonstrated using UV monitored thermal denaturation experiments, mass spectrometry analysis and gel shift assays. NMR experiments were used to analyse the association of complementary strands after metal-mediated cyclization. We have thus demonstrated that an efficient circularization of synthetic oligonucleotides is easily achieved through this strategy. The hybridization on a complementary strand was more efficient with a RNA target strand and a 2'-O-methyl circularized oligomer

Revisited and large-scale synthesis and purification of the mutated and wild type neu/erbB-2 membrane-spanning segment

International audienc

J. Agric. Food Chem.

(+)-2,3-trans-3,4-cis-Leucocyanidin was produced by acidic epimerization of (+)-2,3-trans-3,4-trans-leucocyanidin synthesized by reduction of (+)-dihydroquercetin with NaBH4, and structures of the two stereoisomers purified by C18- and phenyl-reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were confirmed by NMR spectroscopy. We confirm that only 3,4-cis-leucocyanidin is used by leucoanthocyanidin reductase as substrate. The two stereoisomers are quite stable in aqueous solution at -20 degrees C. Characterization of the two stereoisomers was also performed using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS), and we discuss here for the first time the corresponding MS/MS fragmentation pathways, which are clearly distinct. The main difference is that of the mode of dehydration of the 3,4-diol in positive ionization mode, which involves a loss of hydroxyl group at either C-3 or C-4 for the 3,4-cis isomer but only at C-3 for the 3,4-trans isomer. Tandem mass spectrometry therefore proves useful as a complementary methodology to NMR to identify each of the two stereoisomers

J. agric. food chem.

Anthocyanidin synthase from Vitis vinifera (VvANS) catalyzes the in vitro transformation of the natural isomer of leucocyanidin, 2R,3S,4S-cis-leucocyanidin, into 2R,4S-flavan-3,3,4-triol ([M + H]+, m/z 323) and quercetin. The C3-hydroxylation product 2R,

Design of polysaccharide-b-elastin like polypeptide bioconjugates and their thermoresponsive self-assembly

The advantageous biological properties of polysaccharides and precise stimuli-responsiveness of elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are of great interest for the design of polysaccharide and polypeptide-based amphiphilic block copolymers for biomedical applications. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a series of polysaccharide-block-ELP copolymers, containing two biocompatible and biodegradable blocks coupled via copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). The resulting bioconjugates are capable of self-assembling into well-defined nanoparticles in aqueous solution upon raising the solution temperature above a specific transition temperature (Tt) – a characteristic of the ELP moiety. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where polysaccharides were combined with a stimuli-responsive ELP for the preparation of thermo-sensitive self-assemblies, providing insight into novel pathways for designing bioinspired stimuli-responsive self-assemblies for biomedical applications.Développement de squelettes polypeptidiques recombinants pour la synthèse de glycoconjugués multivalents parfaitement défini

Lipid oligonucleotide conjugates as responsive nanomaterials for drug delivery

International audienceWe report Lipid OligoNucleotide conjugates (LONs) bearing either two or three hydrophobic chains. LONs self-assemble into micellar aggregates, which provide a suitable reservoir for hydrophobic drug such as paclitaxel. Our results 10 demonstrate that the composition of the LONs both in terms of the lipid and the oligonucleotide sequence impact their ability to host lipophilic molecules. Interestingly, binding of the complementary oligonucleotide selectively induces the release of part of the drug payload of the aggregates. These 15 LON based micelles, which efficiently host hydrophobic drugs represent an original stimuli-responsive drug delivery system

Tuning Thermoresponsive Properties of Cationic Elastin-like Polypeptides by Varying Counterions and Side-Chains.

We report the synthesis of methionine-containing recombinant elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) of different lengths that contain periodically spaced methionine residues. These ELPs were chemoselectively alkylated at all methionine residues to give polycationic derivatives. Some of these samples were found to possess solubility transitions in water, where the temperature of these transitions varied with ELP concentration, nature of the methionine alkylating group, and nature of the sulfonium counterions. These studies show that introduction and controlled spacing of methionine sulfonium residues into ELPs can be used as a means both to tune their solubility transition temperatures in water using a variety of different parameters and to introduce new side-chain functionality