A Polyclonal Aptamer Library for the Specific Binding of the Gut Bacterium Roseburia intestinalis in Mixtures with Other Gut Microbiome Bacteria and Human Stool Samples

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2022-07, Vol.23 (14), p.7744
• Main Authors: Xing, Hu, Zhang, Yiting, Krämer, Markus, Kissmann, Ann-Kathrin, Amann, Valerie, Raber, Heinz Fabian, Weil, Tanja, Stieger, Kai R., Knippschild, Uwe, Henkel, Marius, Andersson, Jakob, Rosenau, Frank
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aptamers; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Bacteria; Binding; Binding sites; Biomarkers; biosensor; Biosensors; Cancer; Communication; Constipation; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diabetes; Digestive system; Disease; DNA; DNA aptamer; Enteritis; Evolution; Feces; Fluorescence microscopy; Human wastes; Immunogenicity; in vitro diagnostic; Inflammation; Inflammatory bowel disease; Intestinal microflora; Intestine; Irritable bowel syndrome; Labeling; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Microscopy; Mixtures; Monitoring; Pathogens; Probiotics; Roseburia intestinalis; rRNA 16S; Telemedicine; Transplantation
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23147744

Roseburia intestinalis has received attention as a potential probiotic bacterium. Recent studies have demonstrated that changes in its intestinal abundance can cause various diseases, such as obesity, enteritis and atherosclerosis. Probiotic administration or fecal transplantation alter the structure of the intestinal flora, offering possibilities for the prevention and treatment of these diseases. However, current monitoring methods, such as 16S rRNA sequencing, are complex and costly and require specialized personnel to perform the tests, making it difficult to continuously monitor patients during treatment. Hence, the rapid and cost-effective quantification of intestinal bacteria has become an urgent problem to be solved. Aptamers are of emerging interest because their stability, low immunogenicity and ease of modification are attractive properties for a variety of applications. We report a FluCell-SELEX polyclonal aptamer library specific for R. intestinalis isolated after seven evolution rounds, that can bind and label this organism for fluorescence microscopy and binding assays. Moreover, R. intestinalis can be distinguished from other major intestinal bacteria in complex defined mixtures and in human stool samples. We believe that this preliminary evidence opens new avenues towards aptamer-based electronic biosensors as new powerful and inexpensive diagnostic tools for the relative quantitative monitoring of R. intestinalis in gut microbiomes.