A simple and cost-effective test for water-borne pathogen Legionella

嗜肺军团菌(军团菌)是一种来自自然和人工水源的水媒病原体，已知可引起军团病。近年来，军团菌暴发在加拿大和世界各地持续出现。普通公众中每10人中就有1人死亡，感染军团菌的卫生保健机构中每4人中就有1人死亡。因此，军团菌暴发造成的经济和人员损失非常高。目前，对嗜肺军团菌缺乏具有成本效益和简单的诊断检测和监测方法。基于DNA的合成酶(DNAzyme)能够催化各种化学反应，我们相信它们作为分子识别元件非常适合于满足快速和简单的军团菌检测方法的需求。我们的团队已经开发出一种切割RNA的DNAzyme，它对军团菌具有高度选择性的RNA切割活性。本项目的主要目标是优化该DNAzyme检测军团菌的性能，并为商业化创造一个简单的生物传感器原型。一旦开发出来，这种生物传感器有可能为现场监测暴露源(如冷却水塔)中的军团菌污染提供一种简单且用户友好的解决方案。

Legionella pneumophila (Legionella) is a waterborne pathogen from naturally occurring and man-made water sources and is known to cause Legionnaires' disease. In recent years, Legionella outbreaks continue to arise both in Canada and around the world. One in 10 people in the general public and one in 4 people from health care facilities contracted with Legionella will die. Therefore the economic and human costs of Legionella outbreaks are very high. There is currently a lack of cost-effective and simple diagnostic testing and monitoring methods for Legionella pneumophila. Synthetic DNA-based enzymes (DNAzymes) are capable of catalyzing a wide variety of chemical reactions and we believe are well suited to address the need for fast and simple Legionella testing methods by acting as a molecular recognition element. Our team has already developed an RNA-cleaving DNAzyme that demonstrates highly selective RNA-cleaving activity towards Legionella. The key objectives of this project are to optimize the performance of this DNAzyme for detecting Legionella and to create a simple biosensor prototype for commercialization. When developed, this biosensor holds the potential to provide a simple and user-friendly solution for on-site monitoring of the contamination of Legionella in exposure sources, such as cooling water towers.