A Regenerable Biosensing Platform for Bacterial Toxins

Biomacromolecules. 2021 Feb 8;22(2):441-453. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01318. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

Abstract

Waterborne diarrheal diseases such as travelers' diarrhea and cholera remain a threat to public health in many countries. Rapid diagnosis of an infectious disease is critical in preventing the escalation of a disease outbreak into an epidemic. Many of the diagnostic tools for infectious diseases employed today are time-consuming and require specialized laboratory settings and trained personnel. There is hence a pressing need for fit-for-purpose point-of-care diagnostic tools with emphasis in sensitivity, specificity, portability, and low cost. We report work toward thermally reversible biosensors for detection of the carbohydrate-binding domain of the Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LTB), a toxin produced by enterotoxigenic E. coli strains, which causes travelers' diarrhea. The biosensing platform is a hybrid of two materials, combining the optical properties of porous silicon (pSi) interferometric transducers and a thermoresponsive multivalent glycopolymer, to enable recognition of LTB. Analytical performance of our biosensors allows us to detect, using a label-free format, sub-micromolar concentrations of LTB in solution as low as 0.135 μM. Furthermore, our platform shows a temperature-mediated "catch-and-release" behavior, an exciting feature with potential for selective protein capture, multiple readouts, and regeneration of the sensor over consecutive cycles of use.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Toxins*
  • Diarrhea
  • Escherichia coli
  • Escherichia coli Infections*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins*
  • Humans
  • Travel

Substances

  • Bacterial Toxins
  • Escherichia coli Proteins