Chemicals and kits
The pesticides diazinon, baycarb, bifenthrin, pyridaben, fipronil, and 2-phenylphenol were purchased from AccuStandard (New Haven, CT, USA). An AAO membrane (Anodisc, 200 nm pore diameter, 25 mm disc diameter, 60 μm thickness) was obtained from Whatman (Maidstone, UK). The three sizes of random DNA templates, 66-mer oligonucleotides [5' TAGGGAAGAGAAGGACATATGAT (N20) TTGACTAGTACATGACCACTTGA 3'], 76-mer oligonucleotides [5' TAGGGAAGAGAAGGACATATGAT (N30) TTGACTAGTACATGACCACTTGA 3'], and 86-mer oligonucleotides [5' TAGGGAAGAGAAGGACATATGAT (N40) TTGACTAGTACATGACCACTTGA 3'], where N indicates A, C, G, T wobble site, and forward selection primer [5' TAGGGAAGAGAAGGACATATGAT 3'] and reverse selection primer [5' (Biotin BB™) TCAAGTGGTCATGTACTAGTCAA 3'] were purchased from TriLink biotechnologies (San Diego, CA, USA). Yeast tRNA and streptavidin agarose columns were obtained from Thermo Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA). PCR Premix (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) was used for PCR. The NAPTM 5 column (Sephadex G-25 DNA Grade) was obtained from GE Healthcare (Chicago, IL, USA). The 15% Mini-PROTEAN TBE-Urea precast gel was purchased from Bio-Rad (Hercules, CA, USA). Dimethylformamide (DMF, 99%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). SELEX buffer (2×, 100 mM Tri-HCl, pH 7.5, 300 mM NaCl, 50 mM KCl, 0.02% Tween-20, 10 mM MgCl2, 2 mM CaCl2) was purchased from Dongin Biotech (Seoul, Korea). Oligonucleotides were synthesized as aptamer candidates from Cosmo Genetech (Seoul, Korea).
Sol-Gel coating on the AAO membrane and the SELEX process
Sol-gel was coated on the nanoporous AAO membrane to entrap the target pesticide within the sol-gel matrix to prepare the SELEX platform. The overall coating process is described in our previous report [14]. Briefly, the sol-gel composition and preparation method was performed according to the manufacturer’s manual with the SolB complete kit (PCL Inc., Seoul, Korea). Diazinon dissolved in 50% DMF was diluted to 100 ppm, and the prepared sol-gel mixture was mixed at a volume ratio of 1:7. Eighty microliters of diazinon-containing sol-gel mixture was deposited via a single-step spin-coating process at 3,000 rpm for 30 s onto the AAO membrane fixed to a spin coater (ACE-200, Dong Ah Tech, Seoul, Korea). After gelation of the sol-gel-coated AAO membrane overnight at high humidity (90% RH) and room temperature, it was cut with a 6 mm punch (Acu-punch; Acuderm, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA) for subsequent use.
The sol-gel-coated AAO membrane immobilized with diazinon was soaked in 200 μl of 20 μg/ml yeast tRNA for 2 h at room temperature, and then washed with 1× PBS (0.2% Tween-20). The three sizes of DNA templates were mixed at a concentration of 1 μM to create a random aptamer library. Thereafter, the tRNA-treated sol-gel-coated AAO membrane was soaked in 200 μl of 1 μM random aptamer library for 1 h at room temperature. The membrane was washed with PBS and kept in 50 μl of distilled water for 5 min at 95 °C. The eluted DNA was amplified by PCR in a premixed solution with selection primers. PCR was carried out for 25 cycles, consisting of denaturation at 94 °C for 30 s, annealing at 54 °C for 30 s, and extension at 72 °C for 30 s. PCR products were identified using 5% agarose gel electrophoresis.
For ssDNA separation, the PCR product was loaded onto a streptavidin column, and subsequently washed with 1× PBS. After the elution step with 2 ml of 0.2 M NaOH, the eluate was neutralized with 1 N HCl and loaded onto a NAP-5 column for buffer exchange. SELEX buffer was used for elution. The eluate was identified by 15% Mini-PROTEAN TBE-Urea gel electrophoresis and used for subsequent SELEX rounds.
NGS and data analysis
Paired-end sequencing was performed on a MiSeq using the Illumina platform at Macrogen (Seoul, Korea), generating 301 bp reads per end, according to the 16S Metagenomic Sequencing library preparation Part #15044223 Rev. B protocol and Herculase II Fusion DNA Polymerase Nextera XT Index Kit V2. For library construction, six eluates (buffer-exchanged ssDNA), generated by the number of SELEX rounds (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) were used for DNA quality control (QC). After QC of DNA, the sequencing library was prepared by random fragmentation of the DNA sample, followed by 5’ and 3’ adaptor ligation. Adapter-ligated fragments were then PCR-amplified and gel-purified. For cluster generation, the library was loaded into a flow cell where fragments were captured on a lawn of surface-bound oligos complementary to the library adapters. Each fragment was then amplified into distinct clonal clusters through bridge amplification. The obtained sequencing data were converted into raw data for analysis. The Illumina sequencer generates raw images utilizing sequencing control software for system control and base calling through an integrated primary analysis software called Real Time Analysis (RTA). The BCL (base calls) binary was converted into FASTQ utilizing the illumine package, bcl2fastq. Adapters were not trimmed from the reads. K-mer was analyzed from the raw data.
Pesticide-aptamer binding assay
The CD spectrum was generated to characterize the interaction between the pesticide and aptamer candidate using a CD spectrometer (J-1500, Jasco, Japan). The wavelength range for analysis was 400–180 nm, and the scanning speed was 100 nm/min. Diazinon (66 μM) and aptamer (3 μM) were solubilized in 1× SELEX buffer. The total volume used in each experiment was 300 μl and the methanol concentration was adjusted to 20%. The binding affinity between diazinon and the aptamer candidate was considered as the CD signal difference (mdeg), which represents the values calculated by subtracting a CD signal after binding of diazinon and the aptamer candidate with that of the aptamer candidate without pesticide at a wavelength near 270 nm.