Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii genomic DNA using gold nanoprobes

Abstract

Conventional techniques for microbial detection are time-consuming, expensive, and unsuitable. The use of nanoparticles is a valuable technique for the detection of bacterial as well as viral DNA. Gold nanoparticles (gold NPs) have been used as a promising detector for rapid and low-cost identification of microbes with high sensitivity. In this study, gold nanoparticles-probes were used to identify Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii genomic DNA. Thiol-functionalized probes were attached to gold NPs. Hybridization of the probe with the amplified product of Oprl and glta genes resulted in accumulation of gold nanoparticles in a cross-linked manner, caused a color change of the reaction mixture, which indicated the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii in the sample. To study the sensitivity, the polymerase chain reaction product with different bacteria was used, and results were compared. The gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric assay can be used as a direct and rapid method with high sensitivity for specific identification of these pathogens in clinical and food samples.