Detection of Clostridium difficile Using Toehold Switches
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is an anaerobic gram-positive bacterium. It is transmitted by the fecal-oral route in the nosocomial setting and is widely distributed in the natural environment. It is normally a member of the normal flora of the human intestine, and when antibiotics stimulate the intestinal flora to alter homeostasis, it can lead to diseases such as antibiotic-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous enteritis, which become widespread inflammation of the colon. In recent years, the occurrence of diarrhea caused by C. difficile has become more common, showing outbreaks of epidemics, with genetic mutations in the prevalent strains, increasing the ability to produce toxins, and increasing the rate of death and recurrence of the disease in patients, which has attracted the attention of the medical community.
Conventional Testing Methods
Routine tests for C. difficile include pathogenic, immunological, and molecular assays. Pathogenic cytotoxin assays and cytotoxicity neutralization assays are considered to be the gold standard in the industry and are highly sensitive but time-consuming. Detection of glutamate dehydrogenase and toxin by immunology can be an effective prediagnostic screening tool but suffers from low sensitivity, cross-reactivity, and expensive equipment. Molecular testing also suffers from high costs and the risk of overdiagnosis. There is an urgent need to develop a rapid and simple assay for C. difficile.
Toehold Switches in Clostridium difficile Detection
Given the ability of toehold switches to accurately detect target RNA, many scholars have developed or are developing new methods to detect C. difficile based on toehold switches. CD BioSciences has established a toehold switches-based assay platform to provide professional biosensor development services for C. difficile and C. difficile detection service to meet your research needs.
The Development Services We Can Provide Based on Toehold Switches
As a first-class biotechnology company with toehold Switches technology platform, CD BioSciences can provide high-quality toehold Switches technical support for scholars engaged in C. difficile related research, and provide them with solutions for C. difficile detection. We can provide services including but not limited to the following biosensor development service for the detection of C. difficile.
Our Testing Services Based on the Toehold Switches Platform
Clostridium difficile is a pathogen of high concern in nosocomial infections, and good surveillance of it is important to reduce antibiotic-associated diarrhea. CD BioSciences, with its professional research team and extensive experience, is able to provide toehold switches-based low-cost testing services to researchers and scientific teams working on Clostridium difficile-related research.
Advantages of Toehold Switches in Clostridium difficile Detection
- Capable of rapid, low-cost, and highly specific detection of C. difficile.
- Capable of distinguishing between actively infected and passively colonized strains.
- The detection limit is reduced to three femtosecond levels (fM) by NASBA's isothermal RNA amplification step.
CD BioSciences has accumulated extensive knowledge in the toehold switches technology platform and is a professional provider of services related to toehold switches. We have a professional technology platform and service system for developing C. difficile detection technology based on toehold switches. Please feel free to contact us for toehold switches technical support.
Reference
- Takahashi, M.K.; et al. A low-cost paper-based synthetic biology platform for analyzing gut microbiota and host biomarkers. Nat Commun. 2018, 9(1): 3347.