Concentrating pathogenic bacteria accelerates their detection
Rapidly detecting the presence of pathogenic bacteria is essential in a number of sectors, such as the food or cosmetics industries. To guarantee the absence of these bacteria, it is necessary to block batches for 24 to 48 hours before they are put on the market, which can be a handicap. After first developing a method to count bacteria of interest, scientists in the Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université), the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (CNRS) and the Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux in Orsay (CNRS/Université Paris-Sud) are now proposing a new technique to rapidly detect and concentrate cultivable Gram-negative bacteria. This innovative process, which will enable the release of commercial batches within a day and be exploited by the start-up company Click4Tag, is described in PLOS ONE on 10 June 2015.