Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)-Based Nanosensor for the Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract

Pathogens pose a major threat to ecosystem and connected life forms. A number of contagious diseases can be spread by pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, development of simple and efficient method for the detection and quantification of pathogenic bacteria in various environmental samples is of interest to environmentalists and biologists. A variety of conventional molecular biology methods are used to detect these bacteria and were reported in various journals and textbooks. Although various reviews appeared on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based methods for the detection of pathogenic bacteria and viruses, no chapter with fundamental concepts of SERS-based detection of pathogenic bacteria was published. Thus, this chapter focuses mainly on the fundamentals of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and their application towards the detection of pathogenic bacteria. SERS, either by itself or in combination with other techniques, has shown great potential. Differential biomarkers at the microbial surface can be detected by labelling sensing molecules such as antibodies, aptamers, polysaccharides, and antimicrobial peptides with various SERS substrates.