Abstract
Many pathogens that infect humans use cell surface carbohydrates as receptors to facilitate cell-cell adhesion. The hallmark of these interactions is their multivalency, or the simultaneous occurrence of multiple interactions. We have used a carbohydrate-functionalized fluorescent polymer, which displays many carbohydrate ligands on a single polymer chain, to allow for multivalent detection of pathogens. Incubation of a mannose-functionalized polymer with Escherichia coli yields brightly fluorescent aggregates of bacteria. These results show that carbohydrate-functionalized fluorescent polymers are a versatile detection method for bacteria. Future design of detectors for other pathogens only requires information on the carbohydrates bound by the organisms, which has been exhaustively reported in the literature.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Biosensing Techniques / methods
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Carbodiimides / chemistry
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Carbohydrate Metabolism
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Carbohydrates / chemical synthesis
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Carbohydrates / chemistry*
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Erythrocytes / drug effects
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Escherichia coli / isolation & purification*
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Escherichia coli / metabolism
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Ethylamines / chemistry
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Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
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Fluorescent Dyes / chemical synthesis
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Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
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Galactosides / chemistry
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Galactosides / metabolism
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Hemagglutination Tests
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Mannosides / chemistry
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Mannosides / metabolism
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Microscopy, Confocal
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Polymers / chemical synthesis
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Polymers / chemistry*
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Sheep
Substances
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Carbodiimides
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Carbohydrates
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Ethylamines
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Fluorescent Dyes
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Galactosides
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Mannosides
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Polymers
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poly(phenylene ethynylene)
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1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminoethyl)carbodiimide
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N,N-diisopropylethylamine