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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Hamish Yau, Dr Ana Morales Garcia, Professor William WillatsORCiD, Dr Neil Lant
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2021, The Author(s).Washed textiles can remain malodorous and dingy due to the recalcitrance of soils. Recent work has found that ‘invisible’ soils such as microbial extracellular DNA (eDNA) play a key role in the adhesion of extracellular polymeric substances that form matrixes contributing to these undesirable characteristics. Here we report the application of an immunostaining method to illustrate the cleaning mechanism of a nuclease (DNase I) acting upon eDNA. Extending previous work that established a key role for eDNA in anchoring these soil matrixes, this work provides new insights into the presence and effective removal of eDNA deposited on fabrics using high-resolution in-situ imaging. Using a monoclonal antibody specific to Z-DNA, we showed that when fabrics are washed with DNase I, the incidence of microbial eDNA is reduced. As well as a quantitative reduction in microbial eDNA, the deep cleaning benefits of this enzyme are shown using confocal microscopy and imaging analysis of T-shirt fibers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the use of a molecular probe has been leveraged for fabric and homecare-related R&D to visualize eDNA and evaluate its removal from textiles by a new-to-laundry DNase enzyme. The approaches described in the current work also have scope for re-application to identify further cleaning technology.
Author(s): Yau HCL, Malekpour AK, Momin NG, Morales-Garcia AL, Willats WGT, Lant NJ, Jones CY
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2021
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Online publication date: 02/11/2021
Acceptance date: 07/09/2021
Date deposited: 17/11/2021
ISSN (electronic): 2045-2322
Publisher: Nature Research
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98939-0
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-98939-0
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