Portable and quantitative detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) has the potential to reform clinical diagnostics, food safety, and environmental monitoring. At present, most commercial devices used for pathogen detection have disadvantages such as expensive, highly complex operations, or limited detection specificity. Using the common luminometer and the properties of pyruvate kinase utilizing phosphoenolpyruvate to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), we have developed a method that could specifically quantify E. coli. The system is based on a sandwich hybridization procedure wherein both oligonucleotide probes recognize each end of the target of pathogenic 16S rRNAs segment. The detection probe DNA-conjugated pyruvate kinase can link ATP production to the detection of pathogenic nucleic acid in the samples. The luminometer-based system is capable of detecting E. coli with single bacteria resolution. The platform should be easily used to the detection of many other toxic analytes through the application of suitable functional-DNA recognition elements.

中文翻译：

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用丙酮酸激酶光度计检测大肠杆菌

大肠杆菌( E. coli ) 的便携式定量检测具有改革临床诊断、食品安全和环境监测的潜力。目前，大多数用于病原体检测的商业设备都存在价格昂贵、操作高度复杂或检测特异性有限等缺点。利用普通光度计和丙酮酸激酶的特性，利用磷酸烯醇丙酮酸生成三磷酸腺苷 (ATP)，我们开发了一种可以特异性量化大肠杆菌的方法. 该系统基于夹心杂交程序，其中两个寡核苷酸探针识别致病性 16S rRNAs 片段靶标的每一端。检测探针 DNA 缀合的丙酮酸激酶可以将 ATP 的产生与样本中致病性核酸的检测联系起来。基于光度计的系统能够以单一细菌分辨率检测大肠杆菌。通过应用合适的功能性 DNA 识别元件，该平台应易于用于检测许多其他有毒分析物。