Fluoromycobacteriophages for drug susceptibility testing (DST) of Mycobacteria

Abstract

Fluoromycobacteriophages are a new class of reporter phages that contain fluorescent reporter genes (gfp, ZsYellow and mCherry) and provide a simple means of revealing the metabolic state of mycobacterial cells and therefore their response to antibiotics. Here we described a simple and rapid method for drug susceptibility testing (DST) of Mycobacterium spp using a fluorescence microscope, a flow cytometer, or a fluorimeter in a convenient multiwell format.