Lateral flow assay of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus using bacteriophage cellular wall-binding domain as recognition agent

Abstract As one of the most common and noticeable superbugs, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has long been a major threat to public health. To meet the demand for effective diagnosis of MRSA-induced infection, it is urgent to establish rapid assay method for this type of pathogen. In this study, an aqueous soluble cellular wall-binding domain (CWBD) protein from bacteriophage P108 was obtained with a recombinant expression technique. It can act as a wide-spectrum binding agent for all MRSA strains and exclude the interference from methicillin-susceptible strains of Staphylococcus aureus and other species of bacteria. To establish a lateral flow assay (LFA) method for MRSA, CWBD-coupled time-resolved fluorescent microspheres (FMs) were used as signal probes for tracing MRSA, and a nitrocellulose membrane immobilized with porcine IgG was used to capture MRSA. With the LFA based on sandwich format, MRSA can be assayed within 10 min with a broad linear range of 6.6 × 102 ∼ 6.6 × 107 CFU/mL. Its application potential has been demonstrated by assaying different types of bacteria-contaminated real samples. The results suggest that the LFA strip using recombinant CWBD as the recognition agent provides a rapid, portable, cost-effective approach for point-of-care testing of MRSA.