Forensic microbial system for high-resolution object provenance
Abstract
Mapping where an object has been is a fundamental challenge for human health, commerce, and food safety. Location-specific microbes offers the potential to cheaply and sensitively determine object provenance. We created a synthetic, scalable microbial spore system that identifies object provenance in under one hour at meter-scale resolution and near single spore sensitivity, and that can be safely introduced into and recovered from the environment. This system solves the key challenges in object provenance: persistence in the environment, scalability, rapid and facile decoding, and biocontainment. Our system is compatible with SHERLOCK, facilitating its implementation in a wide range of applications.
Footnotes
One Sentence Summary: Rapid, sensitive, specific, scalable object provenance achieved with forensic microbial spores.
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