Aptamer-Based Pathogen Monitoring for Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium

Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium is a foodborne pathogen that causes salmonellosis. Symptoms of salmonellosis include fever, diarrhea, and gastroenteritis. Conventional culture methods for detecting foodborne bacterial pathogens require long incubation time, expensive immunoassay methods, and sample enrichment steps. The objective of this study was to develop an aptamer-based sandwich assay to detect S. enterica ser. Typhimurium. First, S. enterica ser. Typhimurium specific binding aptamers (S11 and S24) were obtained by whole-cell SELEX for high sensitivity and specificity detection using live S. enterica ser. Typhimurium. S11 and S24 aptamers were able to capture S. enterica ser. Typhimurium selectively and distinguish it from other species of Salmonella (S. enterica ser. Typhimurium, S. enterica ser. Choleraesuis, S. enterica ser. Dublin, and S. enterica ser. Enteritidis) and food-borne bacterial pathogens (Escherichia coli K12, Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella sonnei and Staphylococcus aureus) with K-D values of 4.41 x 10(-12) M and 3.75 x 10(-11) M, respectively. S. enterica ser. Typhimurium. aptamer-based sandwich assay exhibited a linear response for sensing S. enterica ser. Typhimurium. cells at concentration ranging from 2 x 10(1) to 2 x 10(5) CFU/mL. This aptamer-based sandwich assay can be used for on-site detection of S. enterica ser. Typhimurium.