Direct Diagnostic Tests for Lyme Disease.

Borrelia burgdorferi was discovered to be the cause of Lyme disease in 1983, leading to seroassays. The 1994 serodiagnostic testing guidelines predated a full understanding of key B. burgdorferi antigens and have a number of shortcomings. These serologic tests cannot distinguish active infection, past infection, or reinfection. Reliable direct-detection methods for active B. burgdorferi infection have been lacking in the past but are needed and appear achievable. New approaches have effectively been applied to other emerging infections and show promise in direct detection of B. burgdorferi infections.

Advances in Serodiagnostic Testing for Lyme Disease Are at Hand.

The cause of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, was discovered in 1983. A 2-tiered testing protocol was established for serodiagnosis in 1994, involving an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) or indirect fluorescence antibody, followed (if reactive) by immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G Western immunoblots. These assays were prepared from whole-cell cultured B. burgdorferi, lacking key in vivo expressed antigens and expressing antigens that can bind non-Borrelia antibodies. Additional drawbacks, particular to the Western immunoblot component, include low sensitivity in early infection, technical complexity, and subjective interpretation when scored by visual examination. Nevertheless, 2-tiered testing with immunoblotting remains the benchmark for evaluation of new methods or approaches. Next-generation serologic assays, prepared with recombinant proteins or synthetic peptides, and alternative testing protocols, can now overcome or circumvent many of these past drawbacks. This article describes next-generation serodiagnostic testing for Lyme disease, focusing on methods that are currently available or near-at-hand.

CombiMatrix oligonucleotide arrays: genotyping and gene expression assays employing electrochemical detection.

Electrochemical detection has been developed and assay performances studied for the CombiMatrix oligonucleotide microarray platform that contains 12,544 individually addressable microelectrodes (features) in a semiconductor matrix. The approach is based on the detection of redox active chemistries (such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and the associated substrate TMB) proximal to specific microarray electrodes. First, microarray probes are hybridized to biotin-labeled targets, second, the HRP-streptavidin conjugate binds to biotin, and enzymatic oxidation of the electron donor substrate then occurs. The detection current is generated due to electro-reduction of the HRP reaction product, and it is measured with the CombiMatrix ElectraSense Reader. Performance of the ElectraSense platform has been characterized using gene expression and genotyping assays to analyze: (i) signal to concentration dependence, (ii) assay resolution, (iii) coefficients of variation, (CV) and (iv) array-to-array reproducibility and data correlation. The ElectraSense platform was also compared to the standard fluorescent detection, and good consistency was observed between these two different detection techniques. A lower detection limit of 0.75 pM was obtained for ElectraSense as compared to the detection limit of 1.5 pM obtained for fluorescent detection. Thus, the ElectraSense platform has been used to develop nucleic acid assays for highly accurate genotyping of a variety of pathogens including bio-threat agents (such as Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, and other microorganisms including Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, etc.) and common pathogens of the respiratory tract (e.g. influenza A virus).

Bifunctional small molecules are biomimetic catalysts for silica synthesis at neutral pH.

Silicatein is an enzyme isolated from the biosilica produced by the marine demosponge, Tethya aurantia. Once isolated from the sponge, silicatein can be used in vitro to catalyze the hydrolysis and direct polycondensation of a wide variety of alkoxide, ionic, and organometallic precursors to the corresponding chalcogens at standard temperature and pressure and neutral pH. On the basis of these results, an array of small molecules that mimic the unique physiochemical environment found in the enzyme active site was investigated for catalytic activity in the formation of silica from silicon alkoxides at neutral pH. The most successful of these biomimetic catalysts (cysteamine) was used to encapsulate firefly luciferase, green and blue fluorescent proteins (GFP, BFP), and Escherichia coli cells expressing GFP in silica matrixes. The benign conditions required for the catalysis of synthesis of these silica composites does not impair the activities of the encapsulated enzyme, fluorescent proteins, or live cells as shown by fluorescence measurements. In conjunction with microcontact printing, this biomimetically catalyzed encapsulation method has been used to produce patterned functional arrays of silica nanoparticulate composite materials.

Measurements of electron-transfer rates of charge-storage molecular monolayers on Si(100). Toward hybrid molecular/semiconductor information storage devices.

Redox kinetics were measured for two electroactive molecules attached to Si(100) surfaces, a ferrocene (Fc-BzOH) and a Zn(II) trimesitylporphyrin (Por-BzOH). Each molecule was derivatized with a benzyl alcohol linker for attachment to the Si surface via the formation of a Si-O bond. A complete protocol was developed for the preparation of stable Si(100) surfaces derivatized with the electroactive molecules. The redox-kinetic measurements were performed on the resulting Fc-BzOH and Por-BzOH monolayers to probe (1) the rate of electron transfer (k0) for oxidation in the presence of applied potentials and (2) the rate of charge dissipation after the applied potential is disconnected (in the form of a charge-retention half-life t1/2). The k0 values for the two types of monolayers were found to be similar to one another as were the t1/2 values. Perhaps more importantly, the electron-transfer rates for both the Fc-BzOH and the Por-BzOH monolayers differ from the charge-dissipation rates by approximately 6 orders of magnitude and are strongly dependent on the surface concentration of the electroactive species. For the Por-BzOH monolayers on Si(100), the k0 and t1/2 values and their trends as a function of surface coverage were determined to be similar to those previously measured for the analogous thiol-derivatized molecule assembled on Au(111). In contrast, the Fc-BzOH monolayers on Si(100) were found to exhibit much slower electron-transfer and charge-dissipation rates than those in the corresponding thiol-Au(111) case. Two alternative hypotheses are advanced to explain both the diminution in rates with increased surface coverage and the contrasting behavior with the analogous thiols on Au, one based on space-charge effects at the monolayer-solution interface, and a second relying on changes in distance of the redox centers from the surface as modulated by the orientation of the linking chains. Collectively, the ability to prepare and study stable, electroactive molecular media on Si(100) is likely to be key in the development of hybrid molecular/semiconductor devices.