A novel aggregation-induced emission probe-linked phage sorbent assay for virulent bacteria strain imaging and...

It was critically important to develop some sensitive, rapid, and specific imaging or detection methods for the virulent strain in food safety monitoring. In the study, a novel tetraphenyl mono-phenylboronic acid dye (TPE-PBA) with good aggregation-induced emission (AIE) features and high combining capacity towards bacteria was first synthesized. With TPE-PBA as a signal tag, a sandwich-type AIE probe-linked phage sorbent assay was developed for imaging and detecting virulent strains using Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) as a representative. In the assay, phages for E. coli O157:H7 were firstly fixed on the bottom of a 96-well plate to specifically capture the strain, then the TPE-PBA signal tag was added and incubated with the captured strain to produce the phage/E. coli O157:H7/TPE-PBA complex. The complex could produce intensive AIE fluorescence being proportional to the amount of E. coli O157:H7 with a detection limit of 30 CFU mL^-1 within 30 min. Simultaneously, the strain could be imaged in the plate with good anti-photobleaching and AIE effects. The results demonstrated the AIE-linked phage sorbent assay with a TPE-PBA signal tag could provide a suitable platform for rapid and specific detection and imaging of virulent strains. Therefore, it exhibited good application prospects in the on-site monitoring of food pathogens.