Rapid Identification of Bacterial Pathogens of Military Interest Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

摘要

The presence of bacterial infections in combat-related injuries in warfighters is becoming increasingly more common and severe. Thus, quick and accurate detection of the invading pathogen is needed so appropriate treatment plans can be generated to improve the prognosis of wounded warriors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing Surface- Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) for the detection and generation of 'molecular fingerprints' of military relevant microorganisms often associated with wound infections. A total of sixteen bacterial isolates including: six Acinetobacter baumannii, four Staphylococcus aureus, three Klebsiella pneumonia, and three Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were evaluated for the generation of SERS-based 'molecular fingerprints' followed by Principal Component Analysis to determine the uniqueness and commonalities of each spectra. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) with melting curves was used to validate the SERS spectra. Our data demonstrate that SERS could not only generate unique 'molecular fingerprints' for these organisms in 15-30 seconds, but could also appropriately group organisms based on commonalities. This report sets the foundation for the utilization of a SERS platform for rapid detection of microorganisms of military relevance, which may ultimately lead to the development of a field deployable point-of-care handheld detection system.