Tunable immunosorbents for the remediation of atrazine- and simazine-contaminated waters

A novel, simple, economical, and environmental friendly tunable immunosorbent-based immunoassay for sensitive and selective determination of atrazine is reported. Tunable immunosorbents consisting of a fusion between an elastin-like polypeptide made up of 77 repeating units of the pentapeptide VPGVG and a single chain Fv of an anti-atrazine antibody was synthesized biologically and purified by temperature-triggered phase transition. A competitive immunoassay based on the competition of atrazine-HRP and atrazine was established with IC50 and lower detection limit of 0.16 and 0.01 ppb, respectively. Excellent recoveries (mean values ranging between 92 % and 104 %) were demonstrated in simulated atrazine-contaminated water samples