New Peptide-based antimicrobials for tackling drug resistance in bacteria: single-cell fluorescence imaging

New peptide molecules with metal binding abilities proved to be active against multidrug resistant clinical isolates. One of them labeled with a dansylated lysine has been imaged inside single-multidrug resistant bacteria cells by deep ultraviolet fluorescence, showing a heterogeneous subcellular localization. The fluorescence intensity is clearly related to the accumulation of the drug inside the bacteria, being dependent both on its concentration and on the incubation time with cells.