"
Team:Aberdeen Scotland/Project
From 2014.igem.org
| Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
<!-- PAGE CONTENT --> | <!-- PAGE CONTENT --> | ||
<div class="main_content"> | <div class="main_content"> | ||
| - | <p> | + | <p>E.coli display of peptide mimotopes, integrated with quorum-sensing AND logic, for diagnosis of tropical diseases |
| + | Trypanosoma.b. gambiense, the causative agent of Trypanosomiasis (African Sleeping Sickness) infects 30,000 people worldwide, with 60 million at disease risk. | ||
| + | Unrecognised, this disease is fatal, but accurate diagnosis, relying on detection of patient serum antibodies against two different trypanosomal antigens, allows | ||
| + | successful treatment. We engineered autotransporters Ag43 and ice-nucleation protein to successfully express surface epitopes in E.coli that mimic two different | ||
| + | trypanosomal antigens. Two E.coli strains were generated, each expressing a distinct surface epitope and either a quorum sensing (QS) sender or receiver module | ||
| + | respectively. Immune pull-down of each strain, and their subsequent co-culture, produced a quorum signal, indicating successful detection of two distinct antibody | ||
| + | populations in a serum sample. We constructed a cheap, Raspberry Pi computer-controlled fluorimeter suitable for developing countries, showing it could detect QS | ||
| + | fluorescence output. This novel application of antigen display, and quorum sensing to implement AND logic sensing, facilitates cheap, simple diagnosis of tropical | ||
| + | diseases.</p> | ||
</div> <br class="clear"> <!-- END OF PAGE CONTENT --> | </div> <br class="clear"> <!-- END OF PAGE CONTENT --> | ||
</div> <!-- END OF CONTAINER --> | </div> <!-- END OF CONTAINER --> | ||
Revision as of 23:53, 16 October 2014
E. coli-based Trypanosomiasis Diagnostic System
Getting back at the Sleeping sickness by detecting it early.
E.coli display of peptide mimotopes, integrated with quorum-sensing AND logic, for diagnosis of tropical diseases Trypanosoma.b. gambiense, the causative agent of Trypanosomiasis (African Sleeping Sickness) infects 30,000 people worldwide, with 60 million at disease risk. Unrecognised, this disease is fatal, but accurate diagnosis, relying on detection of patient serum antibodies against two different trypanosomal antigens, allows successful treatment. We engineered autotransporters Ag43 and ice-nucleation protein to successfully express surface epitopes in E.coli that mimic two different trypanosomal antigens. Two E.coli strains were generated, each expressing a distinct surface epitope and either a quorum sensing (QS) sender or receiver module respectively. Immune pull-down of each strain, and their subsequent co-culture, produced a quorum signal, indicating successful detection of two distinct antibody populations in a serum sample. We constructed a cheap, Raspberry Pi computer-controlled fluorimeter suitable for developing countries, showing it could detect QS fluorescence output. This novel application of antigen display, and quorum sensing to implement AND logic sensing, facilitates cheap, simple diagnosis of tropical diseases.
