Fluorogenic and chromogenic substrates--a promising tool in microbiology.

During the last few years the use of fluorogenic and chromogenic substrates for rapid and sensitive detection of bacteria has proved to be a powerful alternative to traditional methods. These sophisticated substrates might find widespread application in, for instance, the assay of clinically important enzymes, flow cytometry, and direct epifluorescent filter technique. Specific enzyme detection offers another approach to differential identification and characterization of viable bacteria from a sample. The use of some chromogenic and fluorogenic substrates specific for bacterial enzymes and their applications to microbial identification is reported. Particular emphasis is given to the examination of Escherichia coli and the description of the different techniques as used in routine analysis.