In the current studies, we found that the DksA protein from Escherichia coli binds strongly to chrysotile, which is the most commonly used form of asbestos. We developed a convenient colorimetric assay for chrysotile using a fusion of DksA and alkaline phosphatase along with 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyi-phosphate and nitro blue tetrazolium as substrates. Also, using a fusion of DksA and green-fluorescent protein, we were able to detect chrysotile by fluorescence microscopy.