Phage-Based Structural Color Sensors and Their Pattern Recognition Sensing System

摘要

The mammalian olfactory system provides great inspiration for the design of intelligent sensors. To this end, we have developed a bioinspired phage nanostructure-based color sensor array and a smartphonebased sensing network system. Using a M13 bacteriophage (phage) as a basic building block, we created structural color matrices that are composed of liquid-crystalline bundled nanofibers from self-assembled phages. The phages were engineered to express cross-responsive receptors on their major coat protein (pVIII), leading to rapid, detectable color changes upon exposure to various target chemicals, resulting in chemical- and concentration-dependent color fingerprints. Using these sensors, we have successfully detected 5-90 relative humidity with 0.2 sensitivity. In addition, after modification with aromatic receptors, we were able to distinguish between various structurally similar toxic chemicals including benzene, toluene, xylene, and aniline. Furthermore, we have developed a method of interpreting and disseminating results from these sensors using smartphones to establish a wireless system. Our phage-based sensor system has the potential to be very useful in improving national security and monitoring the environment and human health.