Penicillin binding proteins-based immunoassay for the selective and quantitative determination of beta-lactam antibiotics

An immunoassay method based on penicillin-binding protein (PBP) was developed for the quantitative determination of 10 kinds of beta-lactam antibiotics (BLAs). First, two kinds of PBPs, which are named PBP1a and PBP2x, were expressed and purified, and they were characterized by SDS-PAGE and western blotting analysis. Then, the binding activity of PBP1a and PBP2x to template BLAs, cefquinome (CEFQ) and ampicillin (AMP), was determined. The effect of the buffer solution system, e.g., pH, ion concentration, and organic solvent, on the immune interaction efficiency between PBPs and BLAs was also evaluated. In the end, the PBP-based immunoassay method was developed and validated for the detection of 10 kinds of BLAs. Under optimal conditions, PBPs exhibited high binding affinity to BLAs. In addition, this method showed a high sensitivity for the detection of 10 kinds of BLAs with the limits of detection from 0.21 to 9.12 ng/mL, which are much lower than their corresponding maximum residual limit of European Union (4–100 ng/mL). Moreover, the developed PBP-immunoassay was employed for BLA detection from milk samples, and satisfactory recoveries (68.9–101.3 %) were obtained. •Two penicillin-binding proteins were selected, PBP1a and PBP2x, both of which maintained high activity.•Established a sensitive, fast, specific and convenient competitive immunoassay based on penicillin binding protein.•This method showed a high sensitivity for the detection of 10 kinds of beta-lactam antibiotics.