Formation of bio-responsive nanocomposites for targeted bacterial bioimaging and disinfection

The increasing emergence of pathogenic bacterial infection have been regarded as urgent threats. Notwithstanding, developing simplified and effective means for accurate bacterial target diagnosis and therapy remains a considerable challenge. Here we report a reasonable method for accurate and rapid theranostic of bacteria by in situ self-assembly strategy. By introducing aqueous gold and zinc ions into E.coli cells, the gold and zinc nanoclusters (NCs) could be spontaneously constructed by utilizing the in situ self-assemble biosynthetic strategy that takes advantage of the unique microenvironment of pathogenic bacteria and efficiently enhanced the uptake of DNA into the bacteria cells in the presence of Herring sperm DNA. The self-assembling biosynthetic approach improved image sensitivity and specificity toward the bacterial and exhibited highly efficient disinfection activities coupled with NIR light irradiation. This may raise the possibility of establishing a unique theranostic nanoplatform that possess great potential for accurate bacteria bioimaging and disinfection.