Llama proteins could play a vital role in the war on terror

Scientists at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) have for the first time developed a highly sensitive means of detecting the seven types of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) simultaneously. The BoNT-detecting substances are antibodies --proteins made by the body to fight diseases--found in llamas. BoNT are about 100 billion times more toxic than cyanide, and collectively, they are the only toxins in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 'category A' list of potential bioterror threats alongside anthrax, Ebolavirus and other infectious agents. The llama antibodies, called single domain antibodies (sdAb) or "nanobodies," are molecularly flexible,...

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