Aptamer-assisted novel technologies for detecting bacterial pathogens

Abstract

Nowadays, all people are at risk of infectious diseases that are mainly caused by bacteria causing infection. There is a permanent demand for an appropriate detection method that is affordable, practical, careful, rapid, sensitive, efficient and economical. Aptamers are single stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides, which can be recognized specifically and bind to their target molecules and also, be exploited in diagnostic applications. Recently, aptamer-based systems have offered great potentials in applications for the recognition of several important bacterial pathogens from clinical and food specimens. There are several reports appraising the diagnostic applicability of aptamer-based systems for the detection of pathogens. As for its excellent sensitivity, as well as its rapid and efficient detectability, this technique may be practical to indicate bacterial targets with less sample size and may consume less time than traditional methods These systems offer a promising approach for the sensitive and quick detection of food-borne and clinical agents. This review provides an overview of aptamer-based methods as a novel approach for detecting bacterial pathogens.

Keywords: Aptmaers; Cell-SELEX systems; Diagnostic approach.