We report recent developments of our ongoing investigation of insect
sentinels for delivering and predicting the location of agents of
human concern in the environment. A model insect community comprised
of common and easily identifiable key insect carrier species ("KICS")
has been constructed for sampling different habitats, microhabitats
and time periods, and forms the basis of a relational database used
for predicting the location of target agents. Bacillus atrophaeus (=B. subtilis var. niger), a standard non-pathogenic surrogate for B.
anthracis, has been used in laboratory and field experiments to test
proof of concept. Insect samples have been assayed successfully by
microbiological culturing on TSA, PCR using B. atrophaeus-specific
primers developed in our laboratory, immunoassay, microarray and MALDI
TOF. This work has potential applications for homeland defense, bio-
and agroterrorism, and for monitoring a variety of biological,
chemical and radiological agents of human importance in the
environment.
Keywords: bioterrorism
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