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Dual-Color Upconversion Nanoparticles (UCNPs)-Based Fluorescent Immunoassay Probes for Sensitive Sensing Foodborne Pathogens

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Abstract

Rare earth-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have promising potential in biodetection due to their peculiar frequency upconverting capabilities and high detection sensitivity. Here, we report a novel dual-color UCNP-based bacterium-sensing biosensor for simultaneously Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus detection using UCNP as a fluorescence marker and conjugated with antibodies as the specific molecular recognition probe. Dual-color UCNPs were fabricated via varying lanthanide dopants to acquire the well-separated emission peaks. When E. coli and S. aureus were added into the reaction system, the recognition probes would capture the target bacteria through the specific binding of antibody. Then, the fluorescence intensities decreased (∆I = I o -I) were observed to increase linearly with the rising concentration of the E. coli (664 nm) and S. aureus (806 nm) from 47 to 47 × 106 cfu mL−1 (R 2 = 0.98) and 64 to 64 × 106 cfu mL−1 (R 2 = 0.97), respectively, resulting in the relatively low limit of 13 and 15 cfu mL−1 for E. coli and S. aureus. Furthermore, this UCNP-based bacterium-sensing biosensor could also be successfully applied to simultaneously detect E. coli and S. aureus in adulterated meat and milk samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371770), Key R&D Program of Jiangsu Province (No. BE2015302), Postgraduate Innovative Program for Higher Education Institutions in Jiangsu Province (KYLX16_0913), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Youth) (BK20150502), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015M571698), and the Advanced Talents Science Foundation of Jiangsu University (15JDG064).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Zhang, Huanhuan Li, Wenxiu Pan, Quansheng Chen, Qin Ouyang & Jiewen Zhao

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  1. Bin Zhang
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  2. Huanhuan Li
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  3. Wenxiu Pan
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  4. Quansheng Chen
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  5. Qin Ouyang
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  6. Jiewen Zhao
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Correspondence to Quansheng Chen.

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This study has no financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research.

Conflict of Interest

Bin Zhang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Huanhuan Li declares that he has no conflict of interest. Wenxiu Pan declares that he has no conflict of interest. Quansheng Chen declares that he has no conflict of interest. Qin Ouyang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Jiewen Zhao declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Zhang, B., Li, H., Pan, W. et al. Dual-Color Upconversion Nanoparticles (UCNPs)-Based Fluorescent Immunoassay Probes for Sensitive Sensing Foodborne Pathogens. Food Anal. Methods 10, 2036–2045 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-016-0758-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-016-0758-1

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