Selection of DNA aptamers to Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium

Aptamers are single stranded oligonucleotides that forms 3 dimensional structure and binds to target with high affinity and specificity. The target that aptamers can bind to is vast. In this project, the aptamers selected for two serotypes of Salmonella bacteria that are causes a widespread of food borne illness (Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) and Salmonella Typhimurium (ST)). These aptamers were selected using the cell SELEX method and have high binding affinity to the target bacteria. The pool of aptamers were select in binding. The SE aptamer will only bind the SE bacteria and the ST aptamers will only bind the ST bacteria. The highest binding affinity pool (selected using flow cytometry) was cloned and sequenced. Further studies were done on the effect of the these aptamers on SE and ST bacteria. We were able to find antibacterial effect with the clones and aptamer pool against SE and ST bacteria. Table of Content