Sensors 2013, 13(2), 1763-1786; doi:10.3390/s130201763
Recent Advances in Bacteriophage Based Biosensors for Food-Borne Pathogen Detection
1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada
2
National Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2M9, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 17 November 2012 / Revised: 16 January 2013 / Accepted: 29 January 2013 / Published: 30 January 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors and Rapid Testing Bio-Analytical Platforms for Food and Water Analysis)
Abstract
Foodborne diseases are a major health concern that can have severe impact on society and can add tremendous financial burden to our health care systems. Rapid early detection of food contamination is therefore relevant for the containment of food-borne pathogens. Conventional pathogen detection methods, such as microbiological and biochemical identification are time-consuming and laborious, while immunological or nucleic acid-based techniques require extensive sample preparation and are not amenable to miniaturization for on-site detection. Biosensors have shown tremendous promise to overcome these limitations and are being aggressively studied to provide rapid, reliable and sensitive detection platforms for such applications. Novel biological recognition elements are studied to improve the selectivity and facilitate integration on the transduction platform for sensitive detection. Bacteriophages are one such unique biological entity that show excellent host selectivity and have been actively used as recognition probes for pathogen detection. This review summarizes the extensive literature search on the application of bacteriophages (and recently their receptor binding proteins) as probes for sensitive and selective detection of foodborne pathogens, and critically outlines their advantages and disadvantages over other recognition elements. View Full-TextKeywords:
bacteriophage; biological probes; biosensors; food-borne pathogens; signal transduction; pathogens
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MDPI and ACS Style
Singh, A.; Poshtiban, S.; Evoy, S. Recent Advances in Bacteriophage Based Biosensors for Food-Borne Pathogen Detection. Sensors 2013, 13, 1763-1786.