Sudden outbreaks of new epidemics regularly warn us against the severe sanitary and economical impact resistant bacterial infections could have on our industrialized and globalized societies. The rapid identification of viable bacteria is therefore a fundamental challenge.The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is covered by a dense layer of Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which are considered to participate into cell integrity, as well as to the level of pathogenicity of a given strain.We have recently shown that, when they are metabolically active, Gram-negative bacteria can specifically incorporate into their LPS a monosaccharide, which has been modified by the introduction of an azido anchor.[1]This bioorthogonal chemical reporter can then be further exploited in the click-chemistry mediated labeling of these bacteria. This overall procedure offers an efficient and rapid strategy to identify living, or metabolically active, bacteria.This communication will present our latest results in this field, including species-specific labeling of a serious pathogen, Legionella pneumophila.[2] [1] A. Dumont, A. Malleron, M. Awwad, S. Dukan, B. Vauzeilles, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51, 3143-3146.[2] J. Mas Pons, A. Dumont, G. Sautejeau, E. Fugier, A. Baron, S. Dukan, B. Vauzeilles, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2014, 53, 1275 �1278.

Labeling lipopolysaccharides of living bacteria

248th National Meeting (2014)

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