Phage display as a novel screening tool for primary toxicological targets

✍ Scribed by Bieke Van Dorst; Wim De Coen; Ronny Blust; Johan Robbens

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 119 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-7268
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.38

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

In the present study the use of phage display as a screening tool to determine primary toxicological targets was investigated. These primary toxicological targets are the targets in the cell with which a chemical compound initially interacts and that are responsible for consecutive (toxic) effects. Nickel was used as model compound for the present study. By selection of Ni‐binding peptides out of a 12‐mer peptide phage library, it was possible to identify primary toxicological targets of Ni (and other metals). The selected Ni‐binding peptides showed similarities to important primary toxicological targets of Ni, such as the hydrogenase nickel incorporation protein (hypB) and the Mg/Ni/Co transporter (corA). This shows that phage display, which is already widely used in other research fields, also has potential in ecotoxicology, as a novel screening tool with which to determine primary toxicological targets of chemical compounds. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:250–255. © 2009 SETAC