A modern approach to a medieval problem?

Scientists develop a simple glycomic method for the detection of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the Black Death.

A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany) have developed a simple, inexpensive and reliable diagnostic test for the bacterium responsible for the plague, which although rare, is still reported around the world.

The team, led by Peter Seeberger, Director at the Max Plank Institute, and Professor at the Freie Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany), identified and synthesized an oligosaccharide structure on the surface of the bacteria, for it to serve as a specific antigen. The sugar molecule was subsequently bound to a protein to heighten the immunological response. Antibodies to the pathogen were then created via the resulting immune reaction in murine cells. The research resulted in highly selective antibodies, capable of detecting the plague bacteria without falsely responding to others closely related.

Previous detection of plague pathogens involved phenotyping or gene testing, but as methods, these were complex, slow, and often had high failure rates. According to Seeberger, “These reliable tests are simple and economic to administer. Basic research has an intrinsic value, but in the field of glycomics, we are increasingly able to translate our research directly into application with practical value, very much like the value of our latest development has for the medical world.” The glycocongugates have the potential to be applied to test strips, acting as an antigen to the antibodies in the blood of infected patients.

Sources: Anish C, Guo X, Wahlbrink A, Seeberger PH. Plague detection by anti-carbohydrate antibodies. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed Engl.  2;52 (36) 9524–8. doi: 10.1002/anie.201301633. (2013) (Epub ahead of print); A quick test for the Black Death.