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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2006, p. 7339-7344, Vol. 72, No. 11
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01324-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rapid Chromatic Detection of Bacteria by Use of a New Biomimetic Polymer Sensor{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Liron Silbert,1 Izek Ben Shlush,1 Elena Israel,2 Angel Porgador,2 Sofiya Kolusheva,1 and Raz Jelinek1*

Department of Chemistry and Ilse Katz Center for Nanotechnology,1 Department of Immunology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel2

Received 9 June 2006/ Accepted 13 September 2006

We present a new platform for visual and spectroscopic detection of bacteria. The detection scheme is based on the interaction of membrane-active compounds secreted by bacteria with agar-embedded nanoparticles comprising phospholipids and the chromatic polymer polydiacetylene (PDA). We demonstrate that PDA undergoes dramatic visible blue-to-red transformations together with an intense fluorescence emission that are induced by molecules released by multiplying bacteria. The chromatic transitions are easily identified by the naked eye and can also be recorded by conventional high-throughput screening instruments. Furthermore, the color and fluorescence changes generally occur in shorter times than the visual appearance of bacterial colonies on the agar. The chromatic technology is generic and simple, does not require identification a priori of specific bacterial recognition elements, and can be applied for detection of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. We demonstrate applications of the new platform for reporting on bacterial contaminations in foods and for screening for bacterial antibiotic resistance.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel. Phone: 972-8-6461747. Fax: 972-8-6472943. E-mail: razj{at}bgu.ac.il.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 22 September 2006.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2006, p. 7339-7344, Vol. 72, No. 11
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01324-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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