A novel renewable electrochemical biosensor based on mussel-inspired adhesive protein for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in food

A renewable electrochemical biosensor based on mussel-inspired adhesive protein was proposed for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7. This biosensor enables the renewal of an elaborate transducer without re-fabrication. To reduce steric hindrance effects and facilitate aptamer renewal, we used a novel adhesion protein comprising an anchor section for adhering to Au-nanoparticle-modified glassy carbon electrode and a zwitterionic peptide for the associating aptamer to specifically detect E. coli O157:H7 with the assistance of a short complementary DNA, consequently improving the repeatability and sensitivity. The results revealed that the developed biosensor had a linear range from 1.5 × 10 1 to 1.5 × 10 5 CFU/mL and a low detection limit of 4.0 CFU/mL. The electrochemical biosensor demonstrated excellent recovery values for the detection of E. coli O157:H7 in Penaeus vannamei samples. Furthermore, it showed good selectivity and reproducibility, indicating that it could be used in the detection of E. coli O157:H7 contamination. • Renewable electrochemical biosensor for E. coli O157:H7 detection was constructed. • The adhesion proteins played an important role in the renewal of biosensors. • The renewable electrochemical biosensor shows excellent repeatability. • Sensitive detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 with detection limit of 4 CFU/mL.