Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy logoLink to Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
. 1995 Mar;39(3):754–756. doi: 10.1128/AAC.39.3.754

Bioluminescence method to evaluate antimicrobial agents against Mycobacterium avium.

R C Cooksey 1, G P Morlock 1, M Beggs 1, J T Crawford 1
PMCID: PMC162618  PMID: 7793886

Abstract

Plasmid pLUC10, carrying the firefly luciferase gene, was transformed by electroporation into Mycobacterium avium A5. Bioluminescence production by strain A5(pLUC10), as measured in a microdilution plate luminometer, was approximately 1 relative light unit per 2 x 10(6) viable bacilli, whereas it was 0.0005 relative light unit for an equal number of parental cells. The susceptibility of strain A5(pLUC10) to eight concentrations of each of eight antimicrobial agents was evaluated by the luciferase microplate assay in parallel with a conventional broth macrodilution method with antimicrobial agents. Decreases in bioluminescence to levels that were < or = 10% of those of drug-free controls were observed in microplate wells containing inhibitory concentrations of drugs in as few as 3 days. The close correlation of these inhibitory concentrations with the MICs determined by a conventional broth macrodilution method suggests that the luciferase microplate method may offer a convenient and reliable means of evaluating the in vitro activities of antimicrobial agents against the M. avium complex.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (199.7 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cooksey R. C., Crawford J. T., Jacobs W. R., Jr, Shinnick T. M. A rapid method for screening antimicrobial agents for activities against a strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis expressing firefly luciferase. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1993 Jun;37(6):1348–1352. doi: 10.1128/aac.37.6.1348. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Hellyer T. J., Brown I. N., Dale J. W., Easmon C. S. Plasmid analysis of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI) isolated in the United Kingdom from patients with and without AIDS. J Med Microbiol. 1991 Apr;34(4):225–231. doi: 10.1099/00222615-34-4-225. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Horsburgh C. R., Jr Mycobacterium avium complex infection in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1991 May 9;324(19):1332–1338. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199105093241906. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Inderlied C. B., Kemper C. A., Bermudez L. E. The Mycobacterium avium complex. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1993 Jul;6(3):266–310. doi: 10.1128/cmr.6.3.266. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kado C. I., Liu S. T. Rapid procedure for detection and isolation of large and small plasmids. J Bacteriol. 1981 Mar;145(3):1365–1373. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.3.1365-1373.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Masur H. Recommendations on prophylaxis and therapy for disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex disease in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Public Health Service Task Force on Prophylaxis and Therapy for Mycobacterium avium Complex. N Engl J Med. 1993 Sep 16;329(12):898–904. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199309163291228. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Nightingale S. D., Byrd L. T., Southern P. M., Jockusch J. D., Cal S. X., Wynne B. A. Incidence of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex bacteremia in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients. J Infect Dis. 1992 Jun;165(6):1082–1085. doi: 10.1093/infdis/165.6.1082. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES