JACS: from sequencing of new coronavirus genes to sequencing of polymer structural units

Background of research novel coronavirus pneumonia swept across the country in late 2019 In this invisible battle of "epidemic", doctors are retrograde, and science is moving forward (with the highest respect to all the "rebels") On January 23, the team of Shi Zhengli from the Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed that the sequence of the coronavirus gene of the virus was consistent with that of a bat as high as 96.2%; on February 24, the Lancet published a paper indicating that the new coronavirus might be related to the coronavirus carried by the Chinese chrysanthemum head bat; on February 7 According to the Central Agricultural University of Japan, the new coronavirus intermediate host may be from pangolin Anderson, of the University of California, USA, compared the sequence of the new coronavirus and the coronavirus carried by pangolin, and thought that they had a very important relationship In addition, up to now, the most authoritative evidence for the diagnosis or removal of suspected cases is also nucleic acid detection We can't help but ask: "what and how to do accounting and sequencing?"? Nucleic acid sequencing is a new gene detection technology, which can analyze and determine the whole gene sequence from blood or saliva, predict the possibility of suffering from a variety of diseases, individual behavior characteristics and rationality of behavior The traditional way of sequencing is to use optical sequencing technology Four different bases are labeled with different colors of fluorescence, and then the sequence information of the gene to be tested is obtained by using laser light to capture the fluorescence signal In the latest gene sequencer, through the semiconductor sensor, the instrument can directly detect the ion flow generated during DNA replication When the reagent enters the chip through the integrated fluid path, the reaction pores densely distributed on the chip immediately become millions of micro reaction systems DNA / RNA is also a kind of polymer chain in a strict sense Can other polymer materials, such as polyurethane and polypeptide, be sequenced? 2、 Recently, Professor Eric v Anslyn of the University of Texas Austin has successfully sequenced polyurethane oligomers by using the self degradation behavior of polymers The related content was published on J am Chem SOC (DOI: 10.1021 / JACS 9b12818) (photo source: J am Chem SOC.) 3 Research methods the author synthesized the following polyurethane oligomer molecule, and used its intramolecular cyclization reaction under the action of K3PO4 to gradually release the five membered cyclic urethane structure to calculate the oligomer unit sequence Through the selection of reaction temperature and solvent, the author finally determined that the reaction was carried out in 70 ℃ methanol / water solvent By LC / MS, the arrangement sequence of polyurethane structural units can be deduced quickly (photo source: J am Chem SOC.) in order to further verify the feasibility of this method, the author reduced the amino acid protected by Fmoc to amino alcohol structure, and then synthesized a polyurethane oligomer with more complex unit sequence, and successfully sequenced the oligomer At the same time, the author also synthesized a polymer chain and asked a colleague to try to speculate its sequence structure As a result, the colleague successfully solved the first-order structure of the polymer after 4 hours In order to realize the sequence determination of polyurethane structure more conveniently, the author also wrote an algorithm to make the analysis process programmed (photo source: J am Chem SOC.) 4 Research conclusion the author developed a new method for the determination of polyurethane structure sequence by using the unique intramolecular cyclization degradation process of polyurethane structure and LC / MS At the end of the article, I would like to pay tribute to the "rebel" who is fighting in the front of the "epidemic" You have worked hard!!!