Patent ID: 6630303
Filing Date: 2003-10-07
Classification: C12Q

Abstract:
A method of screening for an anti-bacterial agent, comprising:providing a wild type species of bacterium comprising a nucleic acid comprising the sequence of SEQ. ID No. 34, providing a mutant strain of the species, wherein: the mutant strain comprises a mutation in the nucleic acid comprising SEQ ID NO: 34, wherein the mutation is within SEQ ID NO: 34, and the mutated nucleic acid encodes an expression product that confers on the mutant strain a conditional growth phenotype, that is, the mutant strain is able to grow normally at a first level, the permissive level, of a cultural condition, but is not able to grow at a second level, the non-permissive level, of the cultural condition and is able to grow, but growth is hypersensitive to a compound that affects a biological pathway involving the expression product, at a level, the semi-permissive level, between the first and second levels of the cultural condition; contacting the mutant strain with a test compound at the semi-permissive level; and, comparing the growth of the mutant strain at the semi-permissive level in the presence of the test compound with its growth at the semi-permissive level in the absence of the test compound; wherein: if the growth of the mutant strain in the presence of the test compound is inhibited compared to its growth in the absence of the test compound, the test compound is an anti-bacterial agent with activity against the encoded product of the mutated nucleic acid.