RNA signatures allow rapid identification of pathogens and antibiotic susceptibilities.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

With rising rates of drug-resistant infections, there is a need for diagnostic methods that rapidly can detect the presence of pathogens and reveal their susceptibility to antibiotics. Here we propose an approach to diagnosing the presence and drug-susceptibility of infectious diseases based on direct detection of RNA from clinical samples. We demonstrate that species-specific RNA signatures can be used to identify a broad spectrum of infectious agents, including bacteria, viruses, yeast, and parasites. Moreover, we show that the behavior of a small set of bacterial transcripts after a brief antibiotic pulse can rapidly differentiate drug-susceptible and -resistant organisms and that these measurements can be made directly from clinical materials. Thus, transcriptional signatures could form the basis of a uniform diagnostic platform applicable across a broad range of infectious agents.

Year of Publication
2012
Journal
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Volume
109
Issue
16
Pages
6217-22
Date Published
2012 Apr 17
ISSN
1091-6490
URL
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1119540109
PubMed ID
22474362
PubMed Central ID
PMC3341018
Links
Grant list
T32 AI007061 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
K08 AI080944 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
F32 AI081477 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01 AI063106 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
U54 AI057159 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
AI 063106 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
AI 081477 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States