Abstract
The discovery of small biomolecules suffers from the lack of a comprehensive framework to express the intrinsic correlation between bioactivity and contributing small molecules in complex samples with molecular and bioactivity diversity. Here, by mapping a sample’s 2D-HPTLC fingerprint to microplates, the paired chromatographic-based microassay arrays are created, which can be used as quasi-chip to characterize multiple attributes of chromatographic components; and as the array differential expression of the bioactivity and molecular attributes of irregular chromatographic spots for dose-effect interdependent encoding; and also as the automatic-collimated array mosaics of the multi-attributes of each component itself encrypted by its chromatographic fingerprint. Based on this homologous framework, we propose a correlating recognition strategy for small-biomolecules through their self-consistent chromatographic behavior characteristics. In the approach, the small-biomolecule recognition in diverse compounds is transformed into a constraint satisfaction problem, which is addressed through examining the dose-effect interdependence of the homologous 2D code pairs by array matching algorithm, instead of preparing diverse compound monomers of complex test sample for identifying item-by-item. Furtherly, considering the dose-effect interdependent 2D code pairs as links and the digital-specific quasimolecular ions as nodes, an extendable self-consistent framework that correlates mammalian cell phenotypic and target-based bioassays with small biomolecules is established. Therefore, the small molecule contributions and the correlations of bioactivities, as well as their pathway can be comprehensively revealed, so as to improve the reliability and efficiency of screening. This strategy was successfully applied to galangal, and practiced the high-throughput digital preliminary screening of small-biomolecules in a natural product.
Highlight Rapid self-recognition of small biomolecules in diverse samples without pre-isolation Recognized by dose-effect interdependency developed from homologous TLC fingerprint Matching of HPTLC-based molecular imprinting and bioautography on microassay arrays Microarray-based differential expression of substance attributes instead of spot scan An array framework for combining phenotype-based and target-based assays with TLC-MS
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Major changes: In the "highlights" section: Recognized by dose-effect interdependency developed from homologous TLC fingerprint In "Introduction" section: Macroscopically, NASA's night-light image pair of the Earth has been used to map the human socioeconomic activity [22, 23]. Inspired by these approaches of correlating specific behavioral observation, we realize that the homologous chromatographic behavior characteristics of a small molecule can also be used to recognize multiple attributes derived from itself, such as molecular characteristics and modulating bioactivity, and thus propose a correlating recognition strategy for small molecules with bioactivity based on homologous 2D-HPTLC fingerprint. In the "Chromatography-based microassay array preparation" section: The chip array was kept in the array arrangement as a whole, positioned in the corresponding 384-well filter plate, and then the components were positioned and eluted into the corresponding well of another 384 -well microplate with methanol. In the "Scientific and effective strategy" section: Therefore, the separation and in situ recording of chemical constituents on TLC, the labeling of rare bioactivities and the high resolution of mass spectrometry are combined for a parallel and synergistic comprehensive screening, which greatly reduces interference and significantly improves the resolution. This avoids the situation that diverse compounds of a complex samples have to be separated to monomers regardless of whether they are bioactive, and avoids the loss of potential bioactive compounds in tedious fraction cutting and concentration preparation without bioactivity monitoring.