Rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus in dairy and meat foods by combination of capture with silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles and thermophilic helicase-dependent isothermal amplification

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main pathogens in dairy and meat products; therefore, developing a highly sensitive and rapid method for its detection is necessary. In this study, a quantitative detection method for Staph. aureus was developed using silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles and thermophilic helicase-dependent isothermal amplification. First, genomic DNA was extracted from lysed bacteria using silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles and amplified using thermophilic helicase-dependent isothermal amplification. After adding the nucleic-acid dye SYBR Green I to the amplicons, the fluorescence intensity was observed using a UV lamp or recorded using a fluorescence spectrophotometer. This detection system had a detection limit of 5×100 cfu/mL in pure culture and milk-powder samples and 5×101 cfu/mL in pork samples using a UV light in less than 2h. In addition, a good linear relationship was obtained between fluorescence intensity and bacterial concentrations ranging from 102 to 104 cfu/mL under optimal conditions. Furthermore, the results from contaminated milk powder and pork samples suggested that the detection system could be used for the quantitative analysis of Staph. aureus and applied potentially to the food industry for the detection of this pathogen.