Droplet-based digital antibiotic susceptibility screen reveals single-cell clonal heteroresistance in an isogenic bacterial population.

ABSTRACT: Since antibiotic resistance is a major threat to global health, recent observations that the traditional test of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is not informative enough to guide effective antibiotic treatment are alarming. Bacterial heteroresistance, in which seemingly susceptible isogenic bacterial populations contain resistant sub-populations, underlies much of this challenge. To close this gap, here we developed a droplet-based digital MIC screen that constitutes a practical analytical platform for quantifying the single-cell distribution of phenotypic responses to antibiotics, as well as for measuring inoculum effect with high accuracy. We found that antibiotic efficacy is determined by the amount of antibiotic used per bacterial colony forming unit (CFU), not by the absolute

SUBMITTER: Scheler O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7039976 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature