B.s. Detector

The B.s. detector is a diagnostic tool designed to simultaneously identify the presence of several pathogens within a blood sample through the detection of specific sequences within genomic DNA. At the core of our device lies the gram positive - and eponymous - bacteria B. Subtilis which has been genetically modified to harbour two specific operons (a cluster of genes intended to be activated together) of our own design which work in tandem. The first operon consists of the lacZ gene along with an operator gene which is necessary for lacZ's function.

Why Bacillus subtilis?

Bacillus subtilis is capable of natural transformation. Under conditions of nutrient deprivation (energy starvation), B. subtilis can be made to uptake foreign DNA. We can also bypass the need for energy starvation to make transformation even easier! By using cells derived from a specific strain of B. subtilis (SCK6) with the pAX01-comK plasmid ( Zhang & Zhang, 2010), we can use xylose to induce competence and transform B. subtilis with our DNA constructs. Read more about this transformation process in our protocol manual for B. subtilis.

In addition, it is also easy to induce sporulation in B. subtilis. This leads to the generation of robust spores that can be activated when needed.