Effect of cell settlement on the electrochemical collision behaviors of single microbes

Abstract

Electrochemical collision technique has emerged as a powerful approach to detect the intrinsic properties of single entities. The diffusion model, together with migration and convection processes are generally used to describe the transport and collision processes of single entities. However, things become more complicated concerning microbes because of their relatively large size, inherent motility and biological activities. In this work, the electrochemical collision behaviors of four different microorganisms: Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria), Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis (Gram-positive bacteria) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (fungus) were systematically detected and compared using a blocking strategy. By using K4Fe(CN)6 as redox probe, the downwards step-like signals were recorded in the collision process of all the three bacteria, whereas the collision of S. cerevisiae was rarely detected. To further investigate the underlying reason for the abnormal collision behavior of S. cerevisiae, the effect of cell settlement was discussed. The results indicated that ellipsoidal S. cerevisiae with a cell size larger than 2 μm exhibited a cell sedimentation rate of 261.759 nm s−1, which is dozens of times higher than the other three bacteria. By further enhanced convection near the microelectrode or positioned the microelectrode at the bottom of electrochemical cell, the collision signals of S. cerevisiae were successfully detected, indicating cell sedimentation is a nonnegligible force in large cell transport. This study fully addressed the effect of cell settlement on the transport of microbial cells and provided two strategies to counteract this effect, which benefit for the deeper understanding and further application of electrochemical collision technique in single-cell detection.