Determining carbapenemase activity with 18O labeling and targeted mass spectrometry

Published

October 16, 2013

Author(s)

Meiyao Wang, Yang Shen, Illarion Turko, Daniel Nelson, Shuwei Li

Abstract

Carbapenems are broad spectrum antibiotics considered as last resort drugs to treat bacterial infections. Carbapenem-hydrolyzing β-lactamases (also called carbapenemases), however, can confer bacterial resistance and represent a serious health threat. Here, we report a novel approach using 18O labeling and selected reaction monitoring to detect carbapenemase activity from pathogenic microorganisms in a rapid and quantitative manner. Four model bacterial strains bearing various classes of β-lactamases were tested for their capability to hydrolyze meropenem, a FDA-approved carbapenem drug. We were able to predict the meropenem resistance of these bacteria based upon their carbapenemase activity, suggesting the great potential of our method in clinical diagnostics.

Citation

Analytical Chemistry

Volume

85

Issue

22

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

carbapenemase, selected reaction monitoring, isotope labelling, mass spectrometry

Citation

Wang, M. , Shen, Y. , Turko, I. , Nelson, D. and Li, S. (2013), Determining carbapenemase activity with 18O labeling and targeted mass spectrometry, Analytical Chemistry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/ac402627k (Accessed October 10, 2025)