Meat extract

2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA), 2-Aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride (AEM) N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA), ammonium persulphate (APS), 1,2-bis(dimethylamino)ethane (TEMED) and sodium chloride, and cecropin B and cecropin P1 were purchased from Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany). Phosphate buffer saline (PBS) was purchased from Gibco Italia. Peptone, meat extract, tryptone, yeast extract and Noble Agar were purchased from BD Diagnostics (Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). Antibodies against E. coli (Polyclonal anti-E. coli ab13627) were purchased from Abcam (Cambridge, UK). Quantum dots (QDs) and Qdot™ Incubation Buffer were purchased from Invitrogen (code Q10101 MP and Q20001 MP, respectively).

Culture media (Brain heart infusion (BHI), M17, MRS, tryptic soy broth (TSB) and LB media) and inorganic nitrogen sources ((NH₄)₂SO₄, NH₆PO₄, NH₄NO₃ and NH₄Cl) were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). Carbon sources (fructose, glucose, galactose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, sorbitol and mannitol) were obtained from Fisher Chemical (Loughborough, United Kingdom), while organic nitrogen sources (yeast extract, meat extract, peptone and soytone) were from BD (Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA).

Phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and ultra-pure water were purchased from Gibco Italia. Peptone, meat extract, tryptone, yeast extract, and Noble Agar were purchased from BD Diagnostics (Milan, Italy,. Ethanolamine, 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid, 1-ethyl-3-(3-(dimethylamino)-propyl) carbodiimide (EDC), N-hydroxy succinimide (NHS), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were purchased from Merck KGaA, (Darmstadt, Germany). Antibodies anti-Human Serum Albumin (Monoclonal anti-HSA-11 A6684) were purchased from Merck KGaA, (Darmstadt, Germany) and anti-E. coli (Polyclonal anti-E. coli ab13627) from Abcam (Cambridge, UK). Customized primers and a probe for qPCR-based detection of E. coli were purchased from Primm Srl. TaqMan Universal Master Mix with Rox and 96-well reaction plates were purchased from Invitrogen. Colilert-18 reagent, sample vessels, and Quanti-Tray/2000 were purchased from IDEXX. Amicon Ultra centrifugal filter units of 50 kDa and Whatman filter membranes of 0.22, 5, and 20 μm porosity were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Darmstadt, Germany.