Rapid Detection of Food-Borne Escherichia coli O157:H7 with Visual Inspection by Crossing Priming Amplification (CPA)

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is an important food-borne pathogen and has ability to contaminate food, such as water, meat products, and milk. Moreover, E. coli O157:H7 is the main toxin-producing serotype which can produce Shiga toxin type 1 and type 2 and cause intestinal disease. The strong pathogenicity and lethality of Escherichia coli O157:H7 pose a serious threat to human. This study aims to develop a rapid and visual detection assay of E. coli for rfbE , stx1 , and stx2 genes by crossing priming amplification (CPA). The limit of detection of CPA assay for rfbE , stx1 , and stx2 genes was 3.20 fg/μl, 320 fg/μl, and 320 fg/μl in genomic DNA, while that of in artificially contaminated food samples was 10 3 cfu/ml, 10 5 cfu/ml, and 10 5 cfu/ml, respectively, which was distinctly higher than that of PCR methods. And the specificity of CPA assay was tested by 22 different bacterial strains and except for E. coli O157:H7 ATCC43895 and other E. coli O157:H7 isolated from eggs, milk, and beef, all strains showed negative results. The visible detection assay was conducted by the addition of calcein in the reaction solutions. The CPA assay showed a successful detection of E. coli O157:H7 (Shiga toxin–producing and non-Shiga toxin–producing) within 60 min under 63 °C with high sensitivity and specificity. These results indicated that the CPA assays with calcein can provide an advanced method to achieve the rapid and visual detection of food-borne E. coli O157:H7.