Bioelectronics based on antibody-conjugated graphene field-effect transistor for response of Staphylococcal enterotoxin B as a biological weapon

Abstract

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a potent toxin that is produced by Staphylococcus aureus and is classified as an agent for biological weapons. Various nanotechnology-based biosensors have been developed to respond to SEB-based biological weapons; however, these biosensors exhibit various limitations. A novel chimeric antibody was developed from SEB-specific hybridoma clones that were generated using native-like SEB antigen expressed via a baculovirus system. The chimeric antibody exhibited high binding specificity and subnanomolar affinity and was subsequently conjugated onto a graphene field-effect transistor-based bioelectronic (SEB bioelectronic). This device exhibited high performance with a limit of detection of 1 pg/mL and a detection range of 1 pg/mL to 100 ng/mL, demonstrating superior specific detection performance even in the presence of various interference toxin substances at 103 times higher concentrations. Moreover, the SEB bioelectronic was evaluated using nonhuman primate infection models, and the detection performance was investigated based on those for standard SEB substances. These results indicate that the SEB bioelectronic can be utilized for noncontact SEB detection in SEB-exposed onsite locations and can be applied for bioelectronic development to respond to other biological weapons through bioprobe exchanges.