title: Rapid on-site detection of airborne asbestos fibers and potentially hazardous nanomaterials using fluorescence microscopy-based biosensing.
abstract: A large number of peptides with binding affinity to various inorganic materials have been identified and used as linkers, catalysts, and building blocks in nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology. However, there have been few applications of material-binding peptides in the fluorescence microscopy-based biosensing (FM method) of environmental pollutants. A notable exception is the application of the FM method for the detection of asbestos, a dangerous industrial toxin that is still widely used in many developing countries. This review details the selection and isolation of asbestos-binding proteins and peptides with sufficient specificity to distinguish asbestos from a large variety of safer fibrous materials used as asbestos substitutes. High sensitivity to nanoscale asbestos fibers (30-35 nm in diameter) invisible under conventional phase contrast microscopy can be achieved. The FM method is the basis for developing an automated system for asbestos biosensing that can be used for on-site testing with a portable fluorescence microscope. In the future, the FM method could also become a useful tool for detecting other potentially hazardous nanomaterials in the environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. akuroda@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Maxym
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alexandrov
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Takenori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishida
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001194:Asbestos / Q000032:analysis*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001194:Asbestos
keywords: Asbestos; Biosensing; Fluorescence imaging; Material-binding peptide; Portable microscopy