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In view of the presence of pathogenic Vibrio cholerae ( V. cholerae ) bacteria in environmental waters, including drinking water, which may pose a potential health risk to humans, an ultrasensitive electrochemical DNA biosensor for rapid detection of V. cholera e DNA in the environmental sample was developed. Silica nanospheres were functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) for effective immobilization of the capture probe, and gold nanoparticles were used for acceleration of electron transfer to the electrode surface. The aminated capture probe was immobilized onto the Si-Au nanocomposite-modified carbon screen printed electrode (Si-Au-SPE) via an imine covalent bond with glutaraldehyde (GA), which served as the bifunctional cross-linking agent. The targeted DNA sequence of V. cholerae was monitored via a sandwich DNA hybridization strategy with a pair of DNA probes, which included the capture probe and reporter probe that flanked the complementary DNA (cDNA), and evaluated by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) in the presence of an anthraquninone redox label. Under optimum sandwich hybridization conditions, the voltammetric genosensor could detect the targeted V. cholerae gene from 1.0 × 10 -17 -1.0 × 10 -7 M cDNA with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.25 × 10 -18 M (i.e., 1.1513 × 10 -13 µg/µL) and long-term stability of the DNA biosensor up to 55 days. The electrochemical DNA biosensor was capable of giving a reproducible DPV signal with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of <5.0% ( n = 5). Satisfactory recoveries of V. cholerae cDNA concentration from different bacterial strains, river water, and cabbage samples were obtained between 96.5% and 101.6% with the proposed DNA sandwich biosensing procedure. The V. cholerae DNA concentrations determined by the sandwich-type electrochemical genosensor in the environmental samples were correlated to the number of bacterial colonies obtained from standard microbiological procedures (bacterial colony count reference method).

We report a highly sensitive and selective multiplex assay by empowering an electrochemical DNA sensor with isothermal rolling circle amplification. The assay could simultaneously detect and discriminate three common entero-pathogens in a single reaction, with femtomolar sensitivity. It is useful for field- or resource-limited settings.

Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes cholera, a diarrheal disease. Cholera is widespread in poor, under-developed or disaster-hit countries that have poor water sanitation. Hence, a rapid detection method for V. cholerae in the field under these resource-limited settings is required. In this paper, we describe the development of an electrochemical genosensor assay using lyophilized gold nanoparticles/latex microsphere (AuNPs-PSA) reporter label. The reporter label mixture was prepared by lyophilization of AuNPs-PSA-avidin conjugate with different types of stabilizers. The best stabilizer was 5% sorbitol, which was able to preserve the dried conjugate for up to 30 days. Three methods of DNA hybridization were compared and the one-step sandwich hybridization method was chosen as it was fastest and highly specific. The performance of the assay using the lyophilized reagents was comparable to the wet form for detection of 1aM to 1fM of linear target DNA. The assay was highly specific for V. cholerae, with a detection limit of 1fM of PCR products. The ability of the sensor is to detect LAMP products as low as 50ngµl(-1). The novel lyophilized AuNPs-PSA-avidin reporter label with electrochemical genosensor detection could facilitate the rapid on-site detection of V. cholerae., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The ability of a diagnostic test to detect multiple pathogens simultaneously is useful to obtain meaningful information for clinical treatment and preventive measures. We report a highly sensitive and specific electrochemical biosensor assay for simultaneous detection of three gene targets using quantum dots (QDs). The targets are novel non-protein coding RNA (npcRNA) sequences of Vibrio cholerae , Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp., which cause diarrheal diseases. QDs (PbS, CdS, ZnS) were synthesized and functionalized with DNA probes that were specific to each pathogen. Electrochemical detection of QDs was performed using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV). The QDs gave distinct peaks at 0.5 V (PbS), 0.75 V (CdS) and 1.1 V (ZnS). There was no interference in signal response when all three QDs were mixed and detected simultaneously. The detection limits of single and multiplex assays with linear targets and PCR products were in the attomolar ranges. The high assay sensitivity, in combination with specific npcRNA sequences as novel diagnostic targets, makes it a viable tool for detecting pathogens from food, environment and clinical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]