posted on 2021-08-19, 16:33authored bySin Lee, Tae Woog Kang, In-Jun Hwang, Hye-In Kim, Su-Ji Jeon, DaBin Yim, Chanhee Choi, Wooic Son, Hyunsung Kim, Chul-Su Yang, Hwankyu Lee, Jong-Ho Kim
Antibodies are recognition molecules
that can bind to diverse targets
ranging from pathogens to small analytes with high binding affinity
and specificity, making them widely employed for sensing and therapy.
However, antibodies have limitations of low stability, long production
time, short shelf life, and high cost. Here, we report a facile approach
for the design of luminescent artificial antibodies with nonbiological
polymeric recognition phases for the sensitive detection, rapid identification,
and effective inactivation of pathogenic bacteria. Transition-metal
dichalcogenide (TMD) nanosheets with a neutral dextran phase at the
interfaces selectively recognized S. aureus, whereas
the nanosheets bearing a carboxymethylated dextran phase selectively
recognized E. coli O157:H7 with high binding affinity.
The bacterial binding sites recognized by the artificial antibodies
were thoroughly identified by experiments and molecular dynamics simulations,
revealing the significance of their multivalent interactions with
the bacterial membrane components for selective recognition. The luminescent
WS2 artificial antibodies could rapidly detect the bacteria
at a single copy from human serum without any purification and amplification.
Moreover, the MoSe2 artificial antibodies selectively killed
the pathogenic bacteria in the wounds of infected mice under light
irradiation, leading to effective wound healing. This work demonstrates
the potential of TMD artificial antibodies as an alternative to antibodies
for sensing and therapy.