A Universal Bacterial Catcher Au–PMBA-Nanocrab-Based Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Rapid Pathogens Detection

In traditional lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA) for pathogens detection, capture antibody (CA) is necessary and usually conjugated to Au nanoparticles (NPs) in order to label the target analyte. However, the acquisition process of the Au–CA nanoprobe is relatively complicated and costly, which will limit the application of LFIA. Herein, p-mercaptophenylboronic acid-modified Au NPs (namely Au–PMBA nanocrabs), were synthesized and applied for a new CA-independent LFIA method. The stable Au–PMBA nanocrabs showed outstanding capability to capture both Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria through covalent bonding. The acquired Au–PMBA–bacteria complexes were dropped onto the strip, and then captured by the detection antibody on the test line (T-line). Take Escherichia coli O157:H7 as an example, the gray value of T-line was proportional to the bacteria concentration and the linear range was 103–107 cfu·mL–1. This CA-independent strategy exhibited higher sensitivity than the traditional CA-dependent double antibody sandwich method, because detection limit of the former one was 103 cfu·mL–1 only by visual observation, which was reduced by 3 orders of magnitude. Besides, this platform successfully screened E. coli O157:H7 in four food samples with recoveries ranging from 90.25% to 107.25%. This CA-independent LFIA showed great advantages and satisfactory potential for rapid foodborne pathogens detection in real samples.