Enzyme decontamination of biological agents and the use of lectins to determine the pathogenicity of biological agents. Contractor report, October 19-83-September 1985

Technical Report · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:6962617

Singh, J S; Doyle, R J

High concentrations of inorganic salts, such as 1M ammonium and/or sodium sulfate, caused the lysis of exponentially growing cultures of several organisms including, Bacillus anthracis 11966, B. anthracis 14185, B. cereus T, and B. thuringiensis 4042 presumably by activating their autolytic enzymes. This was further confirmed by performing viability counts. When spores were treated with molar salts, no decrease in the colony forming units was evident. The spores displayed instead, a clumping or agglutinating phenomenon perhaps due to their hyrophobic nature. A sensitive enzyme-linked lectinosorbent assay (ELLA) was developed based upon the hydrophobic nature of the spores. This could aid in the detection and identification of small numbers of organisms. The principle involves the use of specific lectins conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. Thus, when the conjugate selectively binds to bacteria which have been previously adsorbed to the bottom of a polystyrene microtiter plate and an enzyme substrate is subsequently added, a color reaction develops. It was shown that enzymes do indeed kill microorganisms, although a single enzyme would not kill all microorganisms. The salt-ELLA technique is the most sensitive method to quantitate spores of B. anthracis. Work on TNM showed the feasibility of using the reagent as a new type of disinfectant.

• Research Organization: Louisville Univ., KY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6962617
• Report Number(s): AD-A-174106/5/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
BACILLUS
BACILLUS CEREUS
BACTERIA
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
ENZYMES
EXPLOSIVES
IMMUNOASSAY
LYSIS
MEDICINE
MICROORGANISMS
NITRO COMPOUNDS
NITROMETHANE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PATHOGENESIS
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM SULFATES
SPORES
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
WEAPONS