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Published on: May 10, 2022
Insights into IrtAB: Iron Transport Facilitates Ultrasensitive Detection of Mycobacteria in Both Cellular and
Dianmo Ni1, Xiaoqiao Hong1, Dingyi Liu2,3
1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) utilizes a heterodimeric ABC transporter (IrtAB) to extract Fe3+ ions from host cells. This study demonstrates that ultrasensitive fluorescent probes, achieved through the conjugation of fluorophores with the ligand of IrtAB, N14G and N14G-Fe can detect Mycobacterium smegmatis at concentrations as low as 1-10 nM within an incubation period of less than 5 min. Furthermore, these probes effectively label Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin BCG and the wild-type Mtb strain H37Rv at a concentration of 0.1 μM after 10 min of incubation, achieving a limit of detection of 34 Colony-Forming Unit for the wild-type Mtb strain H37Rv. Both N14G and N14G-Fe successfully identified Mtb in sputum samples from patients diagnosed with tuberculosis, exhibiting exceptional fluorescence.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) utilizes a heterodimeric ABC transporter (IrtAB) to extract Fe3+ ions from host cells. This study demonstrates that ultrasensitive fluorescent probes, achieved through the conjugation of fluorophores with the ligand of IrtAB, N14G and N14G-Fe can detect Mycobacterium smegmatis at concentrations as low as 1-10 nM within an incubation period of less than 5 min. Furthermore, these probes effectively label Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin BCG and the wild-type Mtb strain H37Rv at a concentration of 0.1 μM after 10 min of incubation, achieving a limit of detection of 34 Colony-Forming Unit for the wild-type Mtb strain H37Rv. Both N14G and N14G-Fe successfully identified Mtb in sputum samples from patients diagnosed with tuberculosis, exhibiting exceptional fluorescence.

