Purpose

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by fungi and mold that pose a significant health risk to both humans and foods, trickling down the food chain and causing widespread contamination of global food supplies. This is a pressing and overlooked threat to public health and food security, significantly in resource-constrained communities due to a lack of food supply as well as minimal enforcement measures, leaving people with little choice but to consume contaminated food [1]. Mycotoxins, specifically Aflatoxin B1, have shown to be genotoxic, a tier 1 carcinogen, teratogenic, and damaging to the liver and kidneys [2]. This issue is only expected to worsen, as rising global temperatures create more favorable conditions for fungal growth—leading to increased mycotoxin prevalence in crops worldwide [3].

Approach

To approach this problem, we propose the safeTEA plasmid, a replication plasmid that forms self-contained aptamers that bind to a target molecule as a novel detoxification mechanism. With our insert and a double-stranded cut on the restriction enzyme of the plasmid, we create Seagull, a pUC19 backbone with aptamer arms, intended to bind and pull out toxin from aqueous solutions. By utilizing the LacZ promoter of pUC19, we controlled the maturation of the plasmid system through the presence or absence of lactose. Lambda exonuclease then digests the anti-aptamer arms, the complementary strand to our encoded aptamers, starting at the 5’ end. Once the toxins are captured by the aptamers, it can then be removed from solution using a cellulose-based filtration device such as a coffee filter or cotton shirt.

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