Comprehensive review of antimicrobial susceptibility testing from traditional methods to emerging technologies

Abstract

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is a prominent technique used to determine the effect of antimicrobial compounds against microbial pathogens. This phenomenon plays a pivotal role in monitoring resistance trends and aids a lot in global antimicrobial management efforts. Traditional methods often consume time when compared to new technologies which include polymerase chain reactions (PCR), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microarrays and many more. This review highlights the principles, merits, demerits, and clinical applications of both classical and modern AST techniques. The transition from classical to modern AST techniques reveal the advancements in rapid identification and detection of resistance markers or genes. In this review, we present the correlation between time-old classical methods with modern techniques employed for effective research in drug discovery and development. The impact of emerging technologies for the detection of resistant genes is discussed with clear understanding. Utility of advanced technologies have taken AST to a different stage where there is no seamless boundary for research and innovation. Their advances and progress have enabled researchers to dive deep into the fundamentals and decode challenges encountering in chemical and microbiological research. (Created in BioRender. M, S. (2026) https://BioRender.com/64slqfq)

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Discover Applied Sciences, 2026 · DOI ↗