Peptide nucleic acid probe, kit and method for detection and/or quantification of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and applications thereof

Abstract

PNA is a synthetic molecule analogue to DNA that, due to its physicochemical properties, allows a faster analysis with higher sensitivity and specificity than the DNA probes. These probes are combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), a molecular biology technique that allows the direct visualization of the microorganisms in the sample. The combination of these two technologies rendered the FISH procedure to be faster, simpler and more efficient. This method can be applied to a great variety of samples such as food, blood, biopsies, feces, water and other clinical, environmental or agriculture and food industry samples. The present invention also includes the development of the kit of detection and respective procedure for the specific identification of Escherichia coli O157:H7 using the above referred sample types.