DMN-Tre: A probe for the rapid, simple, and specific detection of mycobacteria with applications for the rapid diagnosis of M. tuberculosis in sputum from TB patients.

TB is the leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide. Current gold standards for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), in patient sputum samples are lengthy processes that depend on method and technician quality. As such, there is a need to improve the diagnostics accuracy, simplicty and specificity for TB. Stanford researchers have developed an environment-sensitive probe (DMN-Tre) for fast and accurate detection of mycobacteria. DMN-Tre is a solvatochromic trehalose conjugate that undergoes dramatic fluorescence enhancement when incorporated into mycobacterial cell wall. As a result, this probe enables the rapid, no-wash visualization of a panel of mycobacterial and corynebacterial species without nonspecific labeling of gram-positive or –negative bacteria. Additionally, DMN-Tre selects for live organisms and is able to detect Mtb in sputum sample from TB patient. Thus, DMN-Tre has a wide range of applications in microbiology research and medicine.


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