Unlabeled fluorescence ELISA using yellow emission carbon dots for the detection of <i>Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris</i> in apple juice

Juice spoilage caused by Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris has troubled the global manufacturers for many years. Most approaches have failed to detect this bacterium with desirable sensitivity and selectivity because of their inherent drawbacks. In work, carbon dots (CDs) bright fluorescence were prepared which can be quenched HRP-catalyzed oxidation product p-phenylenediamine, via inner filter effect. Therefore, an unlabeled ELISA strategy incorporating CDs as signal reporter was developed detection A. in apple juice. This approach showed excellent performance on target identification enhanced specificity, achieving a limit 3.2 × 102 CFU/mL. It is expected that method could provide reliable way timely acidoterrestris, effectively warning against emergence juice incidence.