Engineering the stereochemistry of cephalosporin for specific detection of pathogenic carbapenemase-expressing bacteria.

Reported herein is the design of fluorogenic probes specific for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and they were designed based on stereochemically modified cephalosporin having a 6,7-trans configuration. Through experiments using recombinant beta-lactamase enzymes and live bacterial species, these probes demonstrate the potential for use in the specific detection of carbapenemases, including metallo-beta-lactamases in active bacterial pathogens.