MMSL 2018, 87(88):32

INNOVATIVE BIOCATALYSTS AS TOOLS TO DETECT AND INACTIVATE NERVE AGENTSMeeting abstracts

Elena Porzio1, Francesca Bettazzi2, Luigi Mandrich1, Immacolata Del Giudice1, Odile F. Restaino3, Serena Laschi4, Ferdinando Febbraio1, Valentina De Luca1, Maria G. Borzacchiello3, Teresa M. Carusone1, Franz Worek5, Antonio Pisanti6, Piero Porcaro6, Chiara Schiraldi3, Mario De Rosa3, Ilaria Palchetti2, Giuseppe Manco1
1 Institute of Protein Biochemistry, National Research Council of Italy
2 Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Italy
3 University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Italy
4 Ecobioservices and Research srl, Italy
5 Bundeswher Institute of Toxicology, Germany
6 Technobios srl, Italy

Pesticides and warfare nerve agents are frequently organophosphates (OPs) or related compounds. Their acute toxicity highlighted more than ever the need to explore applicable strategies for the sensing, decontamination and/or detoxification of these compounds. Herein, we report the use of two different thermostable enzyme families capable to detect and inactivate OPs. In particular, mutants of carboxylesterase-2 from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius and of phosphotriesterase-like lactonases from Sulfolobus solfataricus and Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, have been selected and assembled in an optimized format for the development of an electrochemical biosensor and a decontamination formulation, respectively. The features of the developed tools have been tested in an ad-hoc fabricated chamber, to mimic an alarming situation of exposure to a nerve agent. Choosing ethyl-paraoxon as nerve agent simulant, a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.4 nM, after 5 s of exposure time was obtained. Furthermore, an optimized enzymatic formulation was used for a fast and efficient environmental detoxification (>99%) of the nebulized nerve agent simulants in the air and on surfaces. Crucial, large-scale experiments have been possible thanks to production of grams amounts of pure (>90%) enzymes.

Published: September 2, 2018  Show citation

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Porzio, E., Bettazzi, F., Mandrich, L., Del Giudice, I., Restaino, O.F., Laschi, S., ... Manco, G. (2018). INNOVATIVE BIOCATALYSTS AS TOOLS TO DETECT AND INACTIVATE NERVE AGENTS. MMSL87(Suppl.1), 32
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