Fluorescence assay to predict activity of the glycopeptide antibiotics.

Here, we describe a fluorescent assay developed to study competitive binding of the glycopeptide antibiotics to live bacteria cells. This assay demonstrated that the mechanism of action of the lipoglycopeptide antibiotics strongly depends on the hydrophobicity of the substitutes, with the best antibacterial activity of the glycopeptide antibiotics equally sharing properties of binding to D-Ala-D-Ala residues of the nascent peptidoglycan and to the membrane.