In this work, we report the adaptation of bacteria to stress conditions that induce instability of their cultural, morphological, and enzymatic characters, on which the identification of pathogenic bacteria is based. These can raise serious issues during the characterization of bacteria. The timely detection of pathogens is also a subject of great importance. For this reason, our objective is oriented towards developing an immunosensing system for rapid detection and quantification of Staphylococcus aureus. Polyclonal anti-S. aureus are immobilized onto modified gold electrode by self-assembled molecular monolayer (SAM) method. The electrochemical performances of the developed immunosensor were evaluated by impedance spectroscopy through the monitoring of the charge transfer resistance at the modified solid/liquid interface using ferri-/ferrocyanide as redox probe. The developed immunosensor was applied to detect stressed and resuscitate bacteria. As a result, a stable and reproducible immunosensor with sensitivity of 15 kΩ/decade and a detection limit of 10 CFU/mL was obtained for the S. aureus concentrations ranging from 10(1) to 10(7) CFU/mL. A low deviation in the immunosensor response (±10 %) was signed when it is exposed to stressed and not stressed bacteria.
Keywords: Immunosensor; Impedance spectroscopy; SAM; Staphylococcus aureus; Starvation.