A Robust OFF-ON Fluorescent Biosensor for Detection and Clearance of Bacterial Endotoxin by Specific Peptide Based Aggregation Induced Emission

Abstract Endotoxin, also known as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), can induce strong immune response that causes casualties annually. This number may be greatly reduced if specific, robust, sensitive and more capable of clearance LPS biosensor existed. By introducing a LPS specific binding peptide to a typical aggregation induced emission (AIE) fluorophore, 1-(4-carboxylbenzene)-1,2,2-triphenyl (CTPY), a robust, sensitive and specific “OFF-ON” fluorescent biosensor was developed. The biosensor can achieve LPS sensing of a linear relationship in the concentration range of 0.1–1 μM with a detection limit of 6.97 nM. Moreover, a rapid clearance of LPS is simultaneous realized by integration of mesoporous silica nanospheres with a LPS recognition peptide. Such robust biosensor with highly specific detection and rapid clearance based on LPS specific binding peptide hold considerable promise in diverse clinical and biological applications.