Filamentous phage, such as fd used in this study, are thread-shaped bacterial
viruses. Their outer coat is a tube formed by thousands equal copies of the
major coat protein pVIII. We constructed libraries of random peptides fused to
all pVIII domains and selected phages that act as probes specific for a panel
of test antigens and biological threat agents. Because the viral carrier is
infective, phage borne bio-selective probes can be cloned individually and
propagated indefinitely without needs of their chemical synthesis or
reconstructing. We demonstrated the feasibility of using landscape phages and
their stripped fusion proteins as new bioselective materials that combine
unique characteristics of affinity reagents and self assembling membrane
proteins. Biorecognition layers fabricated from phage-derived probes bind
biological agents and generate detectable signals. The performance of
phage-derived materials as biorecognition films was illustrated by detection of
streptavidin-coated beads, Bacillus anthracis spores and Salmonella typhimurium
cells. With further refinement, the phage-derived analytical platforms for
detecting and monitoring of numerous threat agents may be developed, since the
biodetector films may be obtained from landscape phages selected against any
bacteria, virus or toxin. As elements of field-use detectors, they are superior
to antibodies, since they are inexpensive, highly specific and strong binders,
resistant to high temperatures and environmental stresses.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions
(http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions