Rapid Identification of Mixed Enteropathogenic Bacteria by Means of Au Nanoparticles@Bacteria Using Portable Raman Spectrometer

Rapid detection of food-borne pathogens is the most critical and urgent issue among all the current food safety problems. As enhanced substrate, nanoparticles are widely used in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) because of unique optical and physicochemical properties. In this study, Au nanoparticles with monodisperse and good reproducibility were synthesized by using sodium citrate reduction method. Applying Au nanoparticles sol as enhanced substrate, a portable Raman spectrometer had been applied for rapid detection of single and mixture pathogenic bacterial contamination by SERS. The results indicated that Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimirium, Shigella flexner and Staphylococcus aureus showed specific Raman phenotypes at 600∼1700 cm-1. Generally, different bacteria could be easily and instantly recognized by its Raman phenotypes. The PC-LDA classification model was set up by combined bacterial Raman phenotypes with the multivariate statistical analysis. With the short-time inoculation, four enteropathogenic bacteria could be rapidly, precisely, sensitively and specifically identified. Furthermore, the model also had a good ability to predict the mixed contamination. This research provides the possibility of rapid detection in the food and biomedical fields.