Peptide-assembled graphene oxide as a fluorescent turn-on sensor for lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin) detection

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a toxic inflammatory stimulator released from the outer cell membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, known to be directly related to, for example, septic shock, that causes millions of casualties annually. This number could potentially be lowered significantly if specific, sensitive, and more simply applicable LPS biosensors existed. In this work, we present a facile, sensitive and selective LPS sensor, developed by assembling tetramethylrhodamine-labeled LPS-binding peptides on graphene oxide (GO). The fluorescence of the dye-labeled peptide is quenched upon interaction with GO. Specific binding to LPS triggers the release of the peptide-LPS complex from GO, resulting in fluorescence recovery. This fluorescent turn-on sensor offers an estimated limit of detection of 130 pM, which is the lowest ever reported among all synthetic LPS sensors to date. Importantly, this sensor is applicable for detection of LPS in commonly used clinical injectable fluids, and it enables selective detection of LPS from different bacterial strains as well as LPS on the membrane of living E. coli.