ISSN:
0884-3996
Keywords:
chemiluminescence
;
β-galactosidase
;
tetracyclines
;
Chemistry
;
Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
The observation that tetracyclines inhibit the biosynthesis of β-galactosidase in Escherichia coli to a greater extent than other antibacterials was exploited for the development of a chemiluminometric method to detect residues of this class of antibiotics in milk. The procedure involves the incubation of a milk sample with 107 CFU/ml of an E. coli strain in the presence of IPTG, an inducer of β-galactosidase, and of EGTA, a chelator of calcium ions, followed by a 1000-fold dilution and measurement of the residual enzymatic activity using the chemiluminogenic substrate Galacton. Chemiluminometry proved an essential tool in this procedure because the extensive dilution of the sample, necessary to avoid light quenching by turbidity, results in an insufficient level of β-galactosidase activity to be measurable by colorimetry. This tetracycline galactosidase (TG) test has been validated and compared in the field to existing commercial screening assays for antibiotics. Its detection limit for tetracyclines ranges between 40 and 65 μg/kg, which is below the European maximum residue limit (MRL = 100 μg/kg) in milk. No other antibacterials, at concentrations commonly expected in milk, were found to interfere with the TG test. Strategies to avoid false positive reactions possibly arising from very high somatic cell counts will be reported elsewhere. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Additional Material:
1 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
Permalink
