A rapid method for the detection of representative coliforms in water samples: polymerase chain reaction-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (PCR-ELISA).

Methods to detect the presence of coliform bacteria in drinking water usually involve a series of complex cultivating steps that are time-consuming and subject to external influences. For this reason, the new 16S rRNA probe has been developed in this study as an alternative detector PCR-ELISA technique that does not involve the culture of bacteria and that is able to detect, identify, and quantify the representative coliform species present in water samples. Our results indicate that this technique is both rapid (detection time of 4 h) and accurate (1.4% error rate). The limit of detection (LOD) was 5 CFU/100 ml for total coliforms, which meets the standards set by most countries for drinking water. Our comparative study demonstrated that this PCR-ELISA method is superior to current conventional methods in terms of detection time, LOD, and accuracy.