Strain-Specific Dynamic Fluorescence Staining of E. coli

In the U.S. healthcare associated infections and foodborne illnesses are major health problems. Each year up to 5,000 deaths are reported due to foodborne illnesses. Among the major culprits of foodborne illnesses are various pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli. Given that not all strains of E. coli induce foodborne illnesses, we investigated the use of dynamic staining with fluorescence dyes for the identification of E. coli with strain specificity. In this study we examined the kinetics of staining of the strains E. coli ATCC 87801, E. coli ATCC 87799, E. coli ATCC 37106. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of varying parameters such as cell density, dye concentration and surfactant concentration on the kinetics staining for the three strains of E. coli. The use of dynamic staining allowed for a more rapid approach for differentiating between the strains than the more conventional culture-based approaches while eliminating the need for specialized reagents such as immunoglobulins and PCR primers.