Potential of Fluorophore Labeled Aptamers for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Detection in Drinking Water

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been considered as a representative pathogenic bacteria in drinking water. In order to detect P aeruginosa, aptamers were utilized in this study. In particular, fluorescein isothiocyannate (FITC) and quantum dot (QD) were used for aptamer labeling. FITC-labeled aptamers showed higher binding capacity with optimal incubation time of 30 min compared to QD-labeled aptamers. However, incubation speed did not have any effect on the binding capacity of FITC-labeled aptamers to bacteria. Aptamer-binding capacity was measured according to varying cell concentrations of 0, 10, 100, and 1000 cells/mL. As a result, the limit of detection, limit of quantification, and limit of linearity of P aeruginosa were 5.07, 5.64, and 100 cells/mL, respectively. The low detection limit shows the fluorophore-labeled aptamer potential to detect P aeruginosa labeling in the field.