The mode of action
of antibiotics can be broadly classified as
bacteriostatic and bactericidal. The bacteriostatic mode leads to
the arrested growth of the cells, while the bacteriocidal mode causes
cell death. In this work, we report the applicability of deuterium
stable isotope probing (DSIP) in combination with Raman spectroscopy
(Raman DSIP) for discriminating the mode of action of antibiotics
at the community level. Escherichia coli, a well-known model microbe, was used as an organism for the study.
We optimized the concentration of deuterium oxide required for metabolic
activity monitoring without compromising the microbial growth. Our
findings suggest that changes in the intensity of the C–D band
in the high-wavenumber region could serve as a quantifiable marker
for determining the antibiotic mode of action. This can be used for
early identification of the antibiotic’s mode of action. Our
results explore the new perspective that supports the utility of deuterium-based
vibrational tags in the field of clinical spectroscopy. Understanding
the antibiotic’s mode of action on bacterial cells in a short
and objective manner can significantly enhance the clinical management
abilities of infectious diseases and may also help in personalized
antimicrobial therapy.