A Novel Peptide as a Specific and Selective Probe for Klebsiella pneumoniae Detection.

Hyun Kim,Ju Hyun Cho,Ju Hye Jang,In Young Jung

doi:10.3390/bios12030153

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae is infamous for generating hospital-acquired infections, many of which are difficult to treat due to the bacterium’s multidrug resistance. A sensitive and robust detection method of K. pneumoniae can help prevent a disease outbreak. Herein, we used K. pneumoniae cells as bait to screen a commercially available phage-displayed random peptide library for peptides that could be used to detect K. pneumoniae. The biopanning-derived peptide TSATKFMMNLSP, named KP peptide, displayed a high selectivity for the K. pneumoniae with low cross-reactivity to related Gram-negative bacteria. The specific interaction between KP peptide and K. pneumoniae lipopolysaccharide resulted in the peptide’s selectivity against K. pneumoniae. Quantitative analysis of this interaction by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed that the KP peptide possessed higher specificity and sensitivity toward K. pneumoniae than commercially available anti-Klebsiella spp. antibodies and could detect K. pneumoniae at a detection limit of 104 CFU/mL. These results suggest that KP peptide can be a promising alternative to antibodies in developing a biosensor system for K. pneumoniae detection.

Highlights

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are considered a public health concern because they increase mortality and morbidity, lengthen hospitalization, and result in high healthcare costs [1]
Bacterial stock cultures were stored at −80 ◦ C in tryptic soy broth (TSB) or M17 broth supplemented with 0.5% glucose for L. lactis with 20%
After eliminating the phages that interacted with bovine serum albumin (BSA), K. pneumoniae was probed by the remaining phages in the peptide library

Summary

Introduction

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are considered a public health concern because they increase mortality and morbidity, lengthen hospitalization, and result in high healthcare costs [1]. A leading cause of these HAIs is Klebsiella pneumoniae, a member of the Enterobacteriaceae family that often causes pneumonia, bacteremia, pyogenic liver abscesses, and urinary tract infections, with the majority of these infections occurring in immunocompromised patients [2]. K. pneumoniae colonizes human mucosal surfaces including the gastrointestinal tract and oropharynx, where its effects appear to be benign [2–4]. Epidemiological data indicate that many hospitalized patients have K. pneumoniae in their gastrointestinal tract, linking K. pneumoniae carriage and subsequent disease from the same isolate [5–7]. K. pneumoniae infections acquired in hospitals are challenging to treat since many K. pneumoniae strains have become highly drug-resistant [11,12]. This bacterium’s rapid, precise, and sensitive identification is required to guide the appropriate therapy and control the pathogen’s spread

Methods

Results

Conclusion