MRSA Biosensor Based on CCD Detection

A method for the detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector is described. Monolayers of bacteriophage were formed at an air–water interface and transferred onto silica substrates by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) method. Firstly, the interactions of a wide host range of Staphylococcus aureus lytic bacteriophage and S. aureus were characterized on silica substrates by CCD detector. Experiment results indicated that this biosensor system has a detection limit of 105 cfu/ml. To distinguish MRSA and methicillin sensitive (MSSA) strains, a penicillin-binding protein (PBP 2a) specific antibody was used as a secondary probe. A simple agglutination test was carried out using a latex reagent sensitized with monoclonal antibody against PBP 2a. Agglutination indicated the presence of PBP 2a in MRSA strains.