Construction of a thiamin sensor from the periplasmic thiamin binding protein.

This communication describes the development of a thiamin sensor based on the bacterial thiamin binding protein. A triple mutant (C48S, C50S, S62C) of TbpA was labeled on C62 with N-[2-(L-maleimidyl)ethyl]-7-(diethylamino)coumarin-3-carboxamide (MDCC). Thiamin binding to this protein reduced the coumarin fluorescence giving a thiamin sensor with low nanomolar sensitivity.