Aptamers against
Compositions comprising aptamers capable of specifically binding to a surface protein of Clostridium difficile spore are provided. A method for detecting, enriching, separating, and/or isolating Clostridium difficile spores is provided.
1. A method of visualizing Clostridium difficile spores on a surface, comprising:
contacting a surface with an aptamer having a specific binding affinity for a surface protein of Clostridium difficile spore, wherein the aptamer comprises a nucleic acid sequence having at least 90% identity with the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 11, and wherein the surface protein is CotE; and
visualizing the presence or absence of C. difficile spores on the surface.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising washing of the surface after the contacting to remove unbound aptamer.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aptamer is conjugated to a detectable moiety thereby forming an aptamer conjugate.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the detectable moiety is a fluorophore.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the fluorophore emits at a wavelength of between about 500 nm and 510 nm.
6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising illuminating the surface with a light source.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein light from the light source has a predetermined wavelength, and the predetermined wavelength corresponds to a wavelength of light emitted by the detectable moiety of the aptamer conjugate.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the light source is configured to produce light at a wavelength of between about 485 nm and 515 nm.
9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising filtering the light produced by the light source.
10. The method of claim 6 , comprising passing the light produced from the light source through a bandpass filter.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising photographing a location on the surface, and detecting the presence or absence of the conjugated aptamer bound to Clostridium difficile spores.