Abstract:

Recombinant protein preparation is an important part of many chemical biology experiments, but its effective implementation in a regular undergraduate experiment course is limited by the long period of time required. This work reports innovative improvements on the content and teaching methods in an undergraduate teaching experiment: "Preparation and kinetic characterization of metallo-β-lactamase L1". The main improvements include: (1) using online virtual simulation experiments on a mobile device to study the whole process of L1 preparation and conduct a kinetics study; and (2) offline classroom operation for compulsory and extended experiments. The online resource contains 10 modules, such as polymerase chain reaction of a target gene, recombinant plasmid transformation, protein induction, etc. High-quality simulation of experimental scenarios and human-machine interactive operations provide students with a highly immersive experience, and the coherent experimental arrangement presents a clear knowledge framework. A new offline extension experiment was added to enable the use of the isothermal titration microcalorimetric method to characterize the kinetic parameters of the L1 enzyme. This blended teaching mode realizes the integration of online and offline teaching, which can not only improve the quality and efficiency of teaching, but also broaden students' horizons and cultivate their hands-on ability and innovation awareness. Thus far, good feedback has been received from preliminary implementation, which is expected to provide a reference for undergraduate experimental teaching in other institutions.

Key words: Metallo-β-lactamase L1, Kinetics of enzymatic reaction, Isothermal titration microcalorimetry, Virtual simulation experiment, Online-offline blended teaching