LUSH-based SPR sensor for the detection of alcohols and pheromone

Protein is a widely used sensing substrate in the biosensing technology. In the study conducted here, we used odorant binding protein, LUSH from Drosophila as a biosensing substrate in a miniaturized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. LUSH contains the specific alcohols binding sites, which mediates the detection of alcohols and pheromone. We first modified the surface of the gold sensor chip using the self assembled monolayer in the chloroform solution. The saturated concentration was determined prior to the detection of alcohols and pheromone at various concentrations. The results showed that the LUSH was saturated at 1000 µg/ml on the gold sensor chip. The detection response of LUSH was significant at higher concentration of alcohols. LUSH detected ethanol at concentration • 50%; propanol was detected at • 25% whereas pheromone was detected at • 1.25 µg/µl. The results provide some fundamental information on the potential use of LUSH-based SPR as a simple and easy protein-based sensor in the near future. Keywords: *LUSH, alcohols, pheromone, surface plasmon resonance*