A Rapid Growth-Independent Antibiotic Resistance Detection Test by SYBR Green/Propidium Iodide Viability Assay

• Published in: Frontiers in medicine Vol. 5; p. 127
• Main Authors: Feng, Jie, Yee, Rebecca, Zhang, Shuo, Tian, Lili, Shi, Wanliang, Zhang, Wen-Hong, Zhang, Ying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 03.05.2018
• Subjects: antibiotic resistance; antimicrobial susceptibility testing; CRE bacteria; Medicine; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Staphylococcus aureus; SYBR Green/PI availability assay; SYBR Green/PI availability assay; antimicrobial susceptibility testing; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; CRE bacteria; antibiotic resistance; Staphylococcus aureus
• ISSN: 2296-858X; 2296-858X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00127

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have caused huge concerns and demand innovative approaches for their prompt detection. Current antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) rely on the growth of the organisms which takes 1-2 days for fast-growing organisms and several weeks for slow growing organisms. Here, we show for the first time the utility of the SYBR Green I/propidium iodide (PI) viability assay for rapidly identifying antibiotic resistance in less than 30 min for major, antibiotic-resistant, fast-growing bacteria, such as , and for bactericidal and bacteriostatic agents and in 16 h for extremely rapid detection of drug resistance for isoniazid and pyrazinamide in slow-growing . The SYBR Green I/PI assay generated rapid and robust results in concordance with traditional AST methods. This novel growth-independent methodology changes the concept of the current growth-based AST and may revolutionize current drug susceptibility testing for all cells of prokaryotic and eukaryotic origin and, subject to further clinical validation, may play a major role in saving lives and improving patient outcomes.