Ratiometric Fluorescence Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria Resistant to Broad-Spectrum β-Lactam Antibiotics

摘要

β-Lactam antibiotics have been the frontline drugs to fight bacterial infections because of their high efficacy and low toxicity ever since they were first discovered in the 1920s. These agents confer their antimicrobial ability by inhibiting transpeptidases, also known as penicillin binding proteins (PBPs), the activity of which is required for bacterial cell wall synthesis. To date, hundreds of β-lactam compounds have been synthesized and evaluated for their antibacterial properties, including derivatives of penicillin, cephalosporin, mono-bactam, and carbapenem. As one of the primary strategies to survive in the presence of these antibiotics, bacterial cells can acquire β-lactamases, a family of highly efficient enzymes that are able to destroy β-lactam structural moieties before they interact with PBPs. Hence, inactivation or inhibition of potential β-lactamases is a key consideration for the treatment of bacterial infections.