Methods and systems for the detection of ricin and other ribosome inactivating proteins

A method for determining whether an unknown sample includes a ribosome inactivating protein, comprising the steps of:

• providing a reaction mixture containing an apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) lyase and a nucleic acid substrate having a fluorophore attached to a first end of the substrate, a quencher attached to a second end of the substrate, and a region in the substrate between the first end and the second end that will form an abasic site in the presence of a ribosome inactivating protein, wherein the nucleic acid substrate is selected from the group consisting of SEQ. ID NO. 1, SEQ. ID NO. 2, SEQ. ID NO. 3, SEQ. ID NO. 4, SEQ. ID NO. 5, SEQ. ID NO. 6, SEQ. ID NO. 7, SEQ. ID NO. 8, SEQ. ID NO. 9, SEQ. ID NO. 10, SEQ. ID NO. 11, and SEQ. ID NO. 12;
• adding the unknown sample to the reaction mixture;
• incubating the unknown sample in the reaction mixture such that any ribosome inactivating protein in the unknown sample will form the abasic site in the nucleic acid substrate and the AP lyase will cleave the nucleic acid substrate at the abasic site;
• and
• measuring any fluorescence from the sample to determine whether the sample includes ribosome inactivating protein.