An engineered antimicrobial peptide as an alternative bioreceptor for the detection of pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7

•A novel antimicrobial peptide was successfully engineered, synthesized, and characterized.•The hydrophilic TA-PEI/AMP based electrochemical biosensing platform was developed.•Proposed biosensor exhibit has wide detection range of 101 to 105 CFU/mL with a LOD value of 3.4 CFU/mL.•Developed biosensor demonstrate good performance in a complexed real milk sample.