A novel method for the rapid detection of microbes in blood using pleurocidin antimicrobial peptide functionalized piezoelectric sensor

•A novel method was proposed for the rapid detection of microbes based on the pleurocidin antimicrobial peptide functionalized piezoelectric sensor•Microbes that may be clinically present in the bloodstream during an infection were successfully detected by the proposed method.•The proposed sensor was lable-free, cheap, simple and fast.

The rapid detection of microbes is critical in clinical diagnosis and food safety. Culture-dependent assays are the most widely used microbial detection methods, but these assays are time-consuming. In this study, a rapid microbial detection method was proposed using a pleurocidin/single-walled carbon nanotubes/interdigital electrode-multichannel series piezoelectric quartz crystal (pleurocidin/SWCNT/IDE-MSPQC) sensor. The selected pleurocidin antimicrobial peptide served as a recognition probe that exhibits broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and the SWCNT acted as the electronic transducer and cross-linker for the immobilization of pleurocidin on the IDE. The response mechanism of the sensor was based on the specific interaction between pleurocidin and the microbe causing pleurocidin to detach from the SWCNT modified IDE, resulting in a sensitive frequency shift response of the MSPQC. Microbes that may be clinically present in the bloodstream during an infection were successfully detected by the proposed method within 15 min. The developed strategy provides a new universal platform for the rapid detection of microbes.

Graphical abstractPleurocidin broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide was used to construct a novel microbial sensor. The developed sensor provides a new strategy for rapid detection of microbes.Download high-res image (48KB)Download full-size image