Detection of broad spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotics through fluorescence-labeling aminoglycoside resistence enzymes

Aminoglycosides are among the most commonly used antibiotics. The intensive use of aminoglycoside antibiotics has led to the problem of food contamination and the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the present study, we developed fluorescent biosensors for sensitive detection of broad spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotics from aminoglycoside transferring enzymes isolated from aminoglycoside-resistant bacteria strains. We labelled the enzymes aminoglycoside acetyltransferase and aminoglycoside phosphotransferase with fluorescent thio-labeling reagent at the flexible region of the enzymes. The binding of the labeled enzyme with aminoglycoside antibiotics cause the conformational change of the enzyme, which subsequently changes the hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity environment of fluorescent labeling reagent resulting in emission of fluorescence. This study also provides strategies to screen and discover new effective aminoglycoside antibiotics.