Development of a fluorescence assay for highly sensitive detection of based on an aptamer-carbon dots/graphene oxide system.

An aptamer-based fluorescence assay for culture-independent detection of was developed. This assay was enabled by highly specific aptamers conjugated with photoluminescent carbon dots (CDs) as the fluorescent probe and graphene oxide (GO) as the quencher. Specially, high-throughput sequencing was achieved during systematic evolution of ligands exponential enrichment (SELEX) for accurate recognition of aptamers. This assay displayed high specificity towards and was resistant to interference by other ubiquitous bacteria including , , , , and . After the conditions were optimized, this assay achieved a wide detection range for varying from 10 CFU mL to 10 CFU mL. Notably, it approached an excellent detection limit as low as 9 CFU mL. Therefore, this fluorescence assay was considered successfully developed for highly sensitive detection of . This assay also detected the contamination of in tap water and commercial bottled water, thereby suggesting its potential application in real water samples.