Counter Terrorism Measures to Combat Yersinia Pestis with Selenium Pharmaceuticals

The purpose of this study is to produce selenium labeled peptides and phage (bacterial viruses) that can selectively bind to the surface of the pathogenic bacteria Yersinia pestis (the plague) and inactivate it through the generation of superoxide radicals on its surface, similar to the way that it is inactivated by superoxide in macrophage. The results show that phage specific for a given bacteria can be obtained from phage expression libraries. These same phage can be covalently labeled with selenium and still retain their binding ability. Selenium labeled phage can kill targeted bacteria that are resistant to the phage without selenium.