title: A dual read-out assay to evaluate the potency of compounds active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: Tuberculosis is a serious global health problem caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There is an urgent need for discovery and development of new treatments, but this can only be accomplished through rapid and reproducible M. tuberculosis assays designed to identify potent inhibitors. We developed an automated 96-well assay utilizing a recombinant strain of M. tuberculosis expressing a far-red fluorescent reporter to determine the activity of novel compounds; this allowed us to measure growth by monitoring both optical density and fluorescence. We determined that optical density and fluorescence were correlated with cell number during logarithmic phase growth. Fluorescence was stably maintained without antibiotic selection over 5 days, during which time cells remained actively growing. We optimized parameters for the assay, with the final format being 5 days' growth in 96-well plates in the presence of 2% w/v DMSO. We confirmed reproducibility using rifampicin and other antibiotics. The dual detection method allows for a reproducible calculation of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), at the same time detecting artefacts such as fluorescence quenching or compound precipitation. We used our assay to confirm anti-tubercular activity and establish the structure activity relationship (SAR) around the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3-carboxamides, a promising series of M. tuberculosis inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Juliane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ollinger
authors.forename: Mai Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Garrett C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Moraski
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Florio
authors.forename: Torey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alling
authors.forename: Marvin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Parish
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents