Plasmonic Colloidosome-Based Multifunctional Platform for Bacterial Identification and Antimicrobial Resistance Detection.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent threat to public health. Rapid bacterial identification and AMR tests are important to promote personalized treatment of patients and to limit the spread of AMR. Herein, we explore the utility of plasmonic colloidosomes in bacterial analysis based on mass spectrometry (MS) and Raman scattering. It is found that colloidosomes can provide a rigid micrometer-size platform for bacterial culture and analysis. Coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS, this platform enables bacterial identification at the species level with cell counts as low as 50, >100 times more sensitive than the standard method of MALDI-TOF MS based bacterial identification. Coupled with Raman scattering, it can distinguish single bacterial cells at the strain level and recognize AMR at the single-cell level. These reveal the broad potential of the platform for flexible and versatile bacterial detection and typing.