Rapid immunoassay of anthrax protective antigen in vaccine cultures and bodily fluids by fluorescence polarization

摘要

The inventive subject matter relates to a competitive method for estimating the concentration in a sample of a Bacillus anthracis protein or antibody thereof selected from the group consisting of protective antigen (PA), lethal factor (LF) and edema factor (EF). The method may employ the use of Fluorescence Polarization, FLT or FRET. The competitive methods are capable of detecting a target protein within 5 minutes within the range of 0.1 to 10.0 nM. The methods provide for the rapid detection and quantitation of bacteria, bacterial antigen or antibody in culture media or broth of growing cultures of bacteria, including B. anthracis by fluorescent methods.