Chimeric receptor for use in whole-cell sensors for detecting analytes of interest

Abstract

The present invention relates to chimeric receptors that can be used in whole-cell sensors for detecting analytes of interest. The inventors showed that the DNA binding domains and downstream gene expression can be activated via dimerization of an artificial dimerization composed of a single chain variable domain. They demonstrated for the first time that an artificial bacterial receptor using an antibody-like domain can be activated and produce a transcriptional output upon ligand-binding. In particular, the present invention relates to a chimeric receptor polypeptide comprising: i) a first DNA binding domain, ii) at least one binding domain selected from the group consisting of heavy chain variable domain, camelid VHHs, or antibody mimetics having specificity for an analyte, and iii) a linker between the DNA binding domain and the binding domain.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.