Recent developments in capillary and chip electrophoresis of bioparticles: Viruses, organelles, and cells

Abstract

In appropriate aqueous buffer solutions, biological particles usually exhibit a particular electric surface charge due to exposed charged or chargeable functional groups (amino acid residues, acidic carbohydrate moieties, etc.). Consequently, these bioparticles can migrate in solution under the influence of an electric field allowing separation according to their electrophoretic mobilities or their pI values. Based on these properties, electromigration methods are of eminent interest for the characterization, separation, and detection of such particles. The present review discusses the research papers published between 2008 and 2010 dealing with isoelectric focusing and zone electrophoresis of viruses, organelles and microorganisms (bacteria and yeast cells) in the capillary and the chip format.

Capillary electrophoresis based on nucleic acid detection for diagnosing human infectious disease

“…CE detection of microorganisms can be based on the detection of cells [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], proteins [19][20][21], liposomes [22], or nucleic acids. Among them, nucleic acid detection eliminates many types of false positive and negative results, offering a more precise diagnosis.…”

Capillary and Microchip Electrophoresis

“…Bioparticles exhibit a surface charge due to charged or chargeable functional groups at their surfaces and can thus migrate under the influence of an electric field and become separated by CZE or CIEF. CE is thereby employed to characterize and detect the bioparticles [175][176][177]. The emergence of nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology has required the development of methodologies to determine and characterize nanoparticles (!…”

An Application of Polymer-Enhanced Capillary Transient Isotachophoresis with an Emissive Boronic Acid Functionalized Squarylium Dye as an On-Capillary Labeling Agent for Gram-positive Bacteria

“…Many variations of capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based separations of microbes have been reported [1][2][3][4][5] along with their attendant challenges. In particular, poor discrimination amongst types of bacteria, the appearance of multiple peaks for single species mainly due to aggregate formation, and low sensitivity detection due to non-selective labeling and the innately poor photophysical response of bacteria have been frequently cited.…”

“…In particular, poor discrimination amongst types of bacteria, the appearance of multiple peaks for single species mainly due to aggregate formation, and low sensitivity detection due to non-selective labeling and the innately poor photophysical response of bacteria have been frequently cited. [1][2][3][4][5] To obtain single peaks for each different type of bacteria with high sensitivity, we have reported a new focusing and separation technique for gram-positive bacteria, named "polymer-enhanced capillary transient isotachophoresis" (PectI), which employs a unique boronic acid functionalized squarylium dye (SQ-BA) as an on-capillary fluorescent labeling agent. 6 In this system, the bacteria were stacked into a narrow band based on an isotachophoresis mechanism.…”