Employing carbon dots modified with vancomycin for assaying Gram-positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

By employing attractive performance of fluorescent carbon dots, we herein successfully established an assay for analyzing bacteria firstly. Specifically, carbon dots with blue fluorescence were initially synthesized according to a previous report, and modified with vancomycin on their surfaces. Subsequently, the prepared carbon dots were applied to detect Staphylococcus aureus accompanied with a linear range of 3.18×10 5 -1.59×10 8 cfu/mL as well as a detection limit of 9.40×10 4 cfu/mL. Compared with other regular methods, our method is more rapid and convenient in term of methodology. Meanwhile, the current strategy was applied for detection of other bacteria including Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, and the modified carbon dots showed obvious affinity with Gram-positive bacteria owing to the ligand-receptor interactions between vancomycin and the cell walls, suggesting its value for detecting Gram-positive bacteria. Additionally, the practicability of this sensing approach was validated by recovery experiments conducted in orange juice, confirming its potential to broaden avenues for detection of Gram-positive bacteria.