Extraction and detection of DNA from Bacillus anthracis spores and the vegetative cells within 1 min

The use of a combination of low-cost technologies to both extract and detect anthrax DNA from spores and vegetative cells in two steps within 1 min is described. In a cavity, microwave energy is highly focused using thin-film aluminum bow-tie structures, to extract DNA from whole spores within 20 s. The detection of the released DNA, from less than 1000 vegetative cells, without additional preprocessing steps is accomplished in an additional 30 s by employing the microwave-accelerated metal-enhanced fluorescence technique. The new platform technology presented here is a highly attractive alternative method for DNA extraction and the fast detection of Gram-positive bacteria and potentially other pathogenic species and cells as well.