Gold Nanorod Based Selective Identification of Escherichia coli Bacteria Using Two-Photon Rayleigh Scattering Spectroscopy

The presence of E. coli in foodstuffs and drinking water is a chronic worldwide problem. The worldwide food production industry is worth about U.S. $578 billion, and the demand for biosensors to detect pathogens and pollutants in foodstuffs is growing day by day. Driven by the need, we report for the first time that two-photon Rayleigh scattering (TPRS) properties of gold nanorods can be used for rapid, highly sensitive and selective detection of Escherichia coli bacteria from aqueous solution, without any amplification or enrichment in 50 colony forming units (cfu)/mL level with excellent discrimination against any other bacteria. TPRS intensity increases 40 times when anti-E. coli antibody-conjugated nanorods were mixed with various concentrations of Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacterium. The mechanism of TPRS intensity change has been discussed. This bionanotechnology assay could be adapted in studies using antibodies specific for various bacterial pathogens for the detection of a wide variety of bacterial pathogens used as bioterrorism agents in food, clinical samples, and environmental samples.