Rapid and accurate detection of Bacillus anthracis spores using peptide-quantum dot conjugates

A method for the simple, rapid, specific, and accurate detection of Bacillus anthracis spores was developed by employing specific capture peptides conjugated with fluorescent quantum dots (QDs). It was possible to distinguish B. anthracis spores from the spores of B. thuringiensis and B. cereus using these peptide-QD conjugates by flow cytometric and confocal laser scanning microscopic analyses. For more convenient high-throughput detection of B. anthracis spores, spectrofluorometric analysis of spore-peptide-QD conjugates was performed. B. anthracis spores could be detected in less than 1 h using this method. In order to avoid any minor yet false-positive signal caused by the presence of B. thuringiensis spores, the B-Negative peptide, which can only bind to B. thuringiensis, conjugated with another type of QD that fluoresces at different wavelength was also developed. In the presence of mixed B. anthracis and B. thuringiensis spores, the BABA peptide conjugated with QD525 and the B-Negative peptide conjugated with QD585 were able to bind to the former and the latter, specifically and respectively, thus allowing the clear detection of B. anthracis spores against B. thuringiensis spores by using two QD-labeling systems. This capture peptide-conjugated QD system should be useful for the detection of B. anthracis spores.