Identification of a bacteria-specific binding protein from the sequenced bacterial genome

Novel and specific recognition elements are of central importance in the development of a pathogen detection method. Here, we describe a simple method for identifying the cell-wall binding domain (CBD) from a sequenced bacterial genome employing homology search for phage lysin genes. A putative CBD (CPF369_CBD) was identified from a genome of Clostridium perfringens type strain ATCC 13124, and its function was studied with the CBDGFP fusion protein recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli. Fluorescence microscopy showed the specific binding of the fusion protein to C. perfringens cells, which demonstrates the potential of this method for the identification of novel bioprobes for specific detection of pathogenic bacteria.