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Rapid detection of bacterial resistance to antibiotics using AFM cantilevers as nanomechanical sensors

Nature Nanotechnology volume 8, pages 522–526 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The widespread misuse of drugs has increased the number of multiresistant bacteria1, and this means that tools that can rapidly detect and characterize bacterial response to antibiotics are much needed in the management of infections. Various techniques, such as the resazurin-reduction assays2, the mycobacterial growth indicator tube3 or polymerase chain reaction-based methods4, have been used to investigate bacterial metabolism and its response to drugs. However, many are relatively expensive or unable to distinguish between living and dead bacteria. Here we show that the fluctuations of highly sensitive atomic force microscope cantilevers can be used to detect low concentrations of bacteria, characterize their metabolism and quantitatively screen (within minutes) their response to antibiotics. We applied this methodology to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, showing that live bacteria produced larger cantilever fluctuations than bacteria exposed to antibiotics. Our preliminary experiments suggest that the fluctuation is associated with bacterial metabolism.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of the set-up and the fluctuating cantilever.
Figure 2: Experiments involving the E. coli and S. aureus bacteria susceptible to ampicillin.
Figure 3: Experiments describing the correlation between metabolism and fluctuations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fond National Suisse through the FN-CR 32I3-130676 and Swiss ISJRP 122941 grants. The authors thank Ch. Gerber, H. P. Lang and F. Huber for confirming the validity of the technique using a different experimental set-up. The authors also thank G. Foffi and P. De Los Rios for critical discussions and for reviewing the manuscript, as well as J-M. Vesin for his help in the preliminary data processing.

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Author notes

  1. G. Longo

    Present address: Present address: EPFL SB IPSB LPMV, BSP 414 (Cubotron UNIL), Rte de la Sorge, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Vivante, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

    G. Longo, L. Alonso-Sarduy, J. Notz, G. Dietler & S. Kasas

  2. Département de Médecine, Service des Maladies Infectieuses, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, CH-1011, Switzerland

    L. Marques Rio & A. Trampuz

  3. Institute de Microbiologie, Faculté de Biologie et de Médecine, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

    A. Bizzini

  4. Département des Neurosciences Fondamentales, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

    S. Kasas

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Contributions

S.K., G.L., L.A.S. and G.D. designed the study. G.L., J.N. and L.A.S. performed the nanomotion sensor analyses and produced the LabVIEW software. G.L., L.A.S. and G.D. analysed the nanomotion data. G.L. and J.N. performed the glucose experiments. S.K. produced the finite elements model (FEM). G.D. performed the theoretical calculations. G.L. and S.K. collected and analysed the AFM and optical data. L.M.R. performed the MIC and MBC determination. A.B. and A.T. provided the bacteria. A.B., A.T. and L.M.R. provided the microbiological background. G.L. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to G. Longo.

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Longo, G., Alonso-Sarduy, L., Rio, L. et al. Rapid detection of bacterial resistance to antibiotics using AFM cantilevers as nanomechanical sensors. Nature Nanotech 8, 522–526 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.120

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