Patent ID: 8753831

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of a botulinum (BoNT) toxin in a sample comprising: (a) exposing the sample putatively containing a BoNT toxin to: (i) an enrichment matrix comprising a BoNT-specific antibody that binds BoNT and a toxin substrate-specific antibody that binds toxin substrate in the sample, and (ii) a substrate composition comprising the toxin substrate that is capable of eliciting a detectable fluorogenic or luminogenic signal when modified by the BoNT toxin, the exposure occurring under conditions permitting binding of the BoNT toxin to the antibody and a modification of the toxin substrate by the BoNT toxin, the toxin substrate comprising one or more BoNT cleavage sites wherein: (1) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/A, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of the synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP25) containing the BoNT/A cleavage site; (2) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/B, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP) containing the BoNT/B cleavage site; (3) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/C, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of VAMP containing the BoNT/C cleavage site or a fragment of SNAP25 containing the BoNT/C cleavage site; (4) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/D, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of VAMP containing the BoNT/D cleavage site; (5) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/E, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of SNAP25 containing the BoNT/E cleavage site; (6) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/F, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of VAMP containing the BoNT/F cleavage site; and (7) if the BoNT toxin is BoNT/G, the toxin substrate comprises a fragment of VAMP containing the BoNT/G cleavage site; and (b) detecting the presence of the botulinum toxin by measuring a change in detectable fluorogenic or luminogenic signal in the sample.