ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCES DERIVED FROM <i>groEL</i> AND <i>groES</i> AS INHIBITORS OF MICROORGANISMS

Abstract: The present invention provides antisense oligonucleotides which modulate the expression of the <i>groEL</i> or <i>groES</i> genes in microorganisms. This invention is also related to methods of using such oligonucleotides in inhibiting the growth of microorganisms. These antisense oligonucleotides are particularly useful in treating pathological conditions in mammals which are mediated by the growth of microorganisms.

Description: ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCES DERIVED FROM groEL AND groES AS INHIBITORS OF MICROORGANISMS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention pertains to the field of antimicrobial agents and use thereof in medicine and agriculture. BACKGROUND Molecular chaperones are essential to all living organisms (Braig, K., Curr Opin Struct Biol (1998) 8: 159-65). GroEL (HSP60) and GroES (HSP10) are major molecular chaperones and belong to the family of heat shock proteins (HSP) . The HSP expression is boosted during cell stress, for example by heat shock, and this helps the cells to survive and to grow at higher temperatures (Buchner, J., Faseb J (1996) 10: 10-9). The proteins are highly conserved in all bacteria (Stamm, et al., Infect Immun (1991) 59: 1572-5; Zeilstra-Ryalls, et al., Annu Rev Microbiol (1991) 45: 301-25). The precise role of the GroES and GroEL proteins in the bacterial cell is not fully understood, although both proteins are required at all temperatures (Fayet, et al., J Bacteriol (1989) 171: 1379-85; Herendeen, et al., J. Bacteriology (1979) 139: 345-351). GroES and GroEL assist folding of proteins that would otherwise become aggregated or misfolded when refolding from the denatured state (Hartl, F. U. & Martin, J., Curr Opin Struct Biol (1995) 5: 92-102; Hendrick, J. P. & Hartl, F. U., Annu Rev Biochem (1993) 62: 349-84). GroEL and GroES are thought to perform similar protective roles in vivo and thereby increase the half-life of proteins (Hartman, et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1993) 90: 2276-80). InE. coli, GroΕL and GroΕS are required for the correct assembly of the heads of bacteriophages lambda and T4 (Hendrix, R. W. & Tsui, L., Proc Natl Acad Sci U SA (1978) 75: 136-9). ATP hydrolysis by GroΕL results in the release of the bound polypeptides, a process that often requires the action of GroΕS. (Zeilstra-Ryalls, et al., J Bacteriol (1993) 175: 1134-43). The cooperation of GroΕL and GroΕS is an essential requirement for protein folding (Beissinger, et al., J Mol Biol (1999) 289: 1075-92; Wang, et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1998) 95: 12163-8). Mutations in either gene causes similar phenotypes, with respect to lambda phage head morphogenesis and bacterial growth at non-permissive temperatures (Tilly, et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1981) 78: 1629-33). Major bacterial HSPs including GroΕL have been postulated to possibly contribute to an additional mechanism toward development in bacteria of phenotypic tolerance to beta-lactam antibiotics (Powell, J. K. & Young, K. D., J Bacteriol (1991) 173: 4021-6). groEL mdgroES genes are closely linked and are organised in an operon (Hendrick, J. P. & Hartl, F. U., Annu Rev Biochem (1993) 62: 349-84). In prokaryotes, groEL codes for the synthesis of approximately 60,000 Mr polypeptide, whereas, groES, codes for the synthesis of a small polypeptide of approximately 10,000 Mr (Hendrick, J. P. & Hartl, F. U., Annu Rev Biochem (1993) 62: 349-84; Tilly, et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1981) 78: 1629-33). Escherichia coli has been the most extensively studied model ioτgroEL and groES transcription. The expression oigroEL and groES mRNA is tightly regulated by a transcriptional activator, the sigma32 subunit of RNA polymerase. Transcription is controlled positively by the level of heat shock-specific sigma32 (Babst, et al., Mol Microbiol (1996) 19: 827-39), and by negative modulators (Tomoyasu, et al., Mol Microbiol (1998) 30: 567-81). At 37 °C the Sigma32 protein is constitutively expressed at a basal level and its level of expression is augmented with temperature (Kanemori, et al., J Bacteriol (1994) 176: 4235-42; Kanemori, M., Mori, H. & Yura, T., J Bacteriol (1994) 176: 5648-53). Sigma32 is itself negatively regulated by the DnaK/DnaJ chaperone system, which inactivates and destabilises sigma32 and FtsH, a membrane-bound metalloprotease that degrades sigma32 (Tatsuta, et al., Mol Microbiol (1998) 30: 583-93; Tomoyasu, et al., Mol Microbiol (1998) 30, 567-81). A conserved regulatory inverted repeat (IR = CIRCE (controlling inverted repeat of chaperone expression)) originally identified in Bacillus subtilis functions at the DNA level as a repressor binding site and .controls the half life of the transcript (Segal, G. & Ron, E. Z., J Bacteriol (1996) 178: 3634-40; Segal, G. & Ron, E. Z., Ann N Y Acad Sci (1998) 851: 147-51; Segal, R. & Ron, E. Z., FEMS Microbiol Lett (1996) 138: 1-10). The human Hsp 58 protein represents the equivalent of the bacterial GroEL protein in the mammalian stress protein family (Mizzen, et al., JBiol Chem (1989) 264: 20664-75). In comparison to their human homologues the groEL and groES genes exhibit sufficient nucleic acid sequence differences. Depletion oigroEL appears to be a bacteriocidal rather than a bacteriostatic event, at least at 37 °C (Ivic, et al., Gene (1997) 194: 1-8). Antibiotics are important pharmaceuticals for the treatment of infectious diseases in a variety of animals including man. The tremendous utility and efficacy of antibiotics results from the interruption of bacterial (prokaryotic) cell growth with minimal damage or side effects to the eukaryotic host harbouring the pathogenic organisms. In general, antibiotics destroy bacteria by interfering with the DNA replication, DNA to RNA transcription, translation (that is RNA to protein) or cell wall synthesis. Although bacterial antibiotic resistance has been recognised since the advent of antimicrobial agents, the consequence of the emergence of resistant microorganisms, such resistance was historically controlled by the continued availability of effective alternative drugs. Now, drug resistance has emerged as a serious medical problem in the community, leading to increasing morbidity and mortality. The problem is worsened by the growing number of pathogens resistant to multiple, structurally unrelated drugs. The situation has become so desperate that antibiotics once removed from use because of toxic effects may be prescribed in an attempt to deal with the otherwise untreatable drug resistant bacteria. Antisense oligonucleotides have been used to decrease the expression of specific genes by inhibiting transcription or translation of the desired gene and thereby achieving a phenotypic effect based upon the expression of that gene (Wright and Anazodo, Cancer J. (1988) 8:185-189). For example, antisense RNA is important in plasmid DNA copy number control, in development of bacteriophage P22. Antisense RNAs have been used experimentally to specifically inhibit in vitro translation of mRNA coding specifically from Drosophila hsp23, to inhibit Rous sarcoma virus replication and to inhibit 3T3 cell proliferation when directed toward the oncogene c-fos. Furthermore, it is not necessary to use the entire antisense mRNA since a short antisense oligonucleotide can inhibit gene expression. This is seen in the inhibition of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene expression and in the inhibition of specific antiviral activity to vesicular stomatitus virus by inhibiting the N-protein initiation site. Antisense oligonucleotides directed to the macromolecular synthesis operon of bacteria, containing the rpsU gene, the rpoD gene and the dnaG gene have been used for the detection of bacteria. (U.S. Patent No. 5,294,533). Furthermore, photoactivatable antisense DNA complementary to a segment of the β- lactamase gene has been used to suppress ampicillin resistance in normally resistant E. coli (Gasparro et al., Antisense Research and Development (1991) 1:117-140). Antisense DNA analogues have also been used to inhibit the multiple antibiotic resistance (mar) operon in E. coli (White et al., Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (1997) 41:2699-2704). Accordingly, there remains a need for antisense oligonucleotides which will act to inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Heretofor, no antibiotics or antisense oligonucleotides have been developed to target GroΕL or GroΕS. This background information is provided for the purpose of making known information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention. Publications, patent applications and patents referred to throughout the specification are hereby incoφorated by reference in their entireties in this application, as if each individual publication, patent application or patent was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference in its entirety. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide antisense oligonucleotide sequences derived from groEL and groES as inhibitors of microorganisms. This invention is directed to antisense oligonucleotides which modulate the expression of the groEL and groES molecular chaperones/chaperonin-encoding stress gene in microorganisms and pharmaceutical compositions comprising such antisense oligonucleotides. This invention is also related to methods of using such antisense oligonucleotides for inhibiting the growth of microorganisms . One aspect of the present invention provides an antisense compound 5 to 50 nucleobases in length targeted to a nucleic acid molecule encoding groEL or groES of a microorganism, wherein said antisense compound specifically hybridises with and inhibits the expression of groES or groES. One aspect of the present invention provides an antisense compound up to 50 nucleobases in length targeted to a nucleic acid molecule encoding groEL or groES comprising at least a 5 nucleobase portion of SEQ IDNO: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, or 480 and which inhibits expression of groEL or groES. Accordingly, in one of its composition aspects, this invention is directed to an antisense oligonucleotide which comprises from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides, which nucleotides are complementary to the groEL or groES gene of a microorganism. The antisense oligonucleotide may be nuclease resistant. The antisense oligonucleotide may have one or more phosphorothioate internucleotide linkages. In another of its composition aspects, this invention is directed to an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides which is capable of binding to the groEL oτgroES gene of a microorganism, wherein the oligonucleotide comprises all or part of a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:16- 480. ■ In still another of its composition aspects, this invention is directed to a pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient and an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides, which nucleotides are complementary to the groEL xgroES gene of a microorganism. The oligonucleotide may be modified, for example, the oligonucleotide may have one or more phosphorothioate internucleotide linkages. Preferably, the antisense oligonucleotide is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 16-480. In one of its method aspects, this invention is directed to a method for inhibiting the expression of the groEL gene in a microorganism having a groEL gene comprising, administering to said microorganism or to a cell infected with said microorganism an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to the,groEE gene of the microorganism under conditions such that the expression of the.groE gene is inhibited. In another of its method aspects, this invention is directed to a method for inhibiting the expression of thegroES gene in a microorganism having a groES gene, comprising administering to said microorganism an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to thegroES gene of the microorganism under conditions such that expression of the^roES gene is inhibited. In one of its method aspects, this invention is directed to a method for inhibiting the growth of a microorganism encoding agroEL or groES gene, which method comprises administering to said microorganism or a cell infected with said microorganism an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to either the groEL oτgroES genes of the microorganism under conditions such that the growth of the microorganism is inhibited. Preferably, the antisense oligonucleotide is selected from the group consisting of SΕQ ID NOs: 16-480. In another of its method aspects, this invention is directed to a method for treating a pathologic condition in a eukaryotic organism mediated by a microorganism, which method comprises identifying a mammal having a pathologic condition mediated by a microorganism having agroEL or groES gene and administering to said mammal an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to either the groEL or groES gene of the microorganism under conditions such that the growth of the microorganism is inhibited. Preferably the eukaryotic organism is an animal, more preferably the organism is a mammal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES AND TABLES Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4 list exemplary antisense oligonucleotides of the present invention. "Tm" refers to the melting temperature of an oligonucleotide duplex calculated according to the nearest-neighbour thermodynamic values. At this temperature 50% of nucleic acid molecules are in duplex and 50% are denatured. "ΔG" is the free energy of the oligonucleotide, which is a measurement of an oligonucleotide duplex stability. The ΔG for primer stability, hairpin loop and 3' dimer formation has been calculated according to the free energy values (in kcal/mol) of the nearest neighbour nucleotide (Breslauer, et al., Proc NαtlAcαd Sci USA (1986) 83, 3746-50). The acceptable ΔG limits for hairpin and 3' dimer formation in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent a moderate stringency oligonucleotide selection. Selected conditions: high stability sequences (ΔG>30.0 in absolute number), with minimal internal loop (ΔG>-0.5) and 3' dimer formation (ΔG>-3.7). Tables 5 to 8 demonstrate the conservation of some of the oligonucleotide sequences (listed in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4) among different bacterial organisms. The conserved sequences of oligonucleotides were compared using the BLASTN program (Altschul, et al., J Mol Biol (1990) 215, 403-10) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. "Y" represents 100% of conservation of the oligonucleotide sequence in the corresponding microorganism. Table 9 lists the different oligonucleotide primers used in the PCR reactions to clone and sequence the groE operon from Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes , Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Figure 1 represents the sequence of the E. coligroE operon obtained from GenBank accession number: ΕCGROΕSL [SΕQ ID NO:l]. Figure 2 represents the sequence of the E. coli groE operon of multidrug resistant Escherichia coli C175-94 [SΕQ ID NO:2]. Figure 3 represents the sequence of the E. coli groE operon of the uropathogen ATCC700336 [SΕQ ID NO:3]. Figure 4 represents partial sequence of theE. coligroE operon from a K12 strain; JM105 -[SΕQ ID NO:4]. Figure 5 represents the sequence of the S. pneumoniae groE operon obtained from GenBank accession number: AF117741 [SΕQ ID NO:5]. Figure 6 represents the sequence of the^roE operon of antibiotic resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolate ΕSP174 [SEQ ID NO:6]. Figure 7 represents partial sequence of the S. pyogenes groEL gene obtained from GenBank accession number: SPGROELGN [SEQ ID NO:7]. Figure 8 represents partial sequence of the S. pyogenes groEL gene of the antibiotic resistant isolate RUH964 [SEQ ID NO: 8]. Figure 9 represents partial sequence of S. pyogenes groEL gene of the antibiotic resistant isolate RUH969 [SEQ ID NO:9]. Figure 10 represents partial sequence of the S. pyogenes groEL gene of the antibiotic resistant isolate RUH983 [SEQ ID NO:10]. Figure 11 represents partial sequence of the S. pyogenes groEL gene of the antibiotic resistant isolate RUH1001 [SEQ ID NO:ll]. Figure 12 represents the sequence of the S. aureus groE operon obtained from GenBank accession number: STAHSP [SEQ ID NO: 12]. Figure 13 represents the sequence of thegroE operon of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, isolate B,318 [SΕQ ID NO:13]. Figure 14 represents the sequence of the groE operon of Staphylococcus aureus RN4220 [SΕQ ID NO: 14]. Figure 15A and B represent fragments of the sequence of the groE operon of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027 [SΕQ ID NO:15]. Figure 16 represents target inhibition using antisense oligonucleotides directed against groE operon mRNA. Figure 17 demonstrates a growth curve of E. coli after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 268a at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 18 demonstrates a growth curve of E. coli after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 268b at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 19 demonstrates a growth curve of E. coli after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 338 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 20 demonstrates a growth curve of E. coli after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 380 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 21 demonstrates a growth curve of E. coli after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 393 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 22 demonstrates the in vitro antimicrobial effect of a methylphosphonate chimeric oligonucleotide (338M) targeting the groE operon of E. coli. Figure 23 demonstrates growth curves of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 597 at concentrations of 40 μM (A) and 80 μM (B). Figure 24 demonstrates growth curves of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 599 at concentrations of 40 μM (A) and 80 μM (B). Figure 25 demonstrates growth curves of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 600 at concentrations of 40 μM (A) and 80 μM (B). Figure 26 demonstrates growth curves of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 607 at concentrations of 40 μM (A) and 80 μM (B). Figure 27 demonstrates a growth curve of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 613 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 28 demonstrates a growth curve of S. aureus after treatment with antisense " oligonucleotide 622 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 29 demonstrates a growth curve of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 694 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 30 demonstrates a growth curve of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 700 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 31 demonstrates a growth curve of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 708 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 32 demonstrates a growth curve of S. aureus after treatment with antisense oligonucleotide 713 at a concentration of 80 μM. Figure 33 represents the in vivo protection of mice from septicemia using antisense oligonucleotides targeting the mRNA of thegroE operon. (A) Bacterial counts in the peritoneal cavity of mice treated with phosphorothioate antisense 338 [SΕQ ID NO:94]. The peritoneal cavity was flushed with 2 ml of sterile saline solution 2 and 6 hours after infection. Titrated serial dilutions of the lavage fluids were plated on TSA plates (tryptic soy agar, Difco Laboratories), and bacterial counts are given as number of bacteria per millilitre of peritoneal fluid (sample means ± standard deviation, n =3 mice). (B) Bacterial count (CFU/ml) in the peritoneal fluid of mice treated with methylphosphonate chimeric oligonucleotide 338M. Peritoneal fluid was collected under sterile conditions 2 and 7 hours after infection. Titrated serial dilutions of the lavage fluid were plated on TSA plates (tryptic soy agar, Difco Laboratories), and bacterial counts are given as number of bacteria per millilitre of peritoneal fluid (sample means ± standard deviation, n =3 mice). (C) Bacterial count (CFU/ml) in the blood of mice treated with methylphosphonate chimeric oligonucleotide 338M. Blood was collected under sterile conditions. Then 25 μl-aliquots of 10-fold dilutions of blood were plated on TSA plates and incubated under aerobic conditions overnight at 37 2 C. Bacterial counts are given as number of bacteria per millilitre of blood (sample means ± standard deviation, n =3 mice). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides compounds that inhibit the growth of microbes by inhibiting the expression of a groEL or a groES protein. Without being limited to any theory, the compounds inhibit the expression of the groEL or groES protein by inhibiting the transcription of the groEL or groES genes or the translation of the mRNA to protein. Such compounds include antisense oligonucleotides. Definitions Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The term "antisense oligonucleotide" as used herein means a nucleotide sequence that is complementary to the mRNA for the desired gene. Preferably, the antisense oligonucleotide is complementary to the mRNA for groEL or groES. The term "groEL" refers to any gene which encodes a protein that is also known as HSP60, 60-kDa heat shock protein, cpnόO or ChspόO in some prokaryotes (Betsou, Sueur & Orfila, 1999; Fink, 1999; LaVerda, Kalayoglu & Byrne, 1999; Richardson, Landry & Georgopoulos, 1998) and that can also facilitate the actual folding process by providing a secluded environment for individual folding molecules and may also promote the unfolding and re-folding of mis-folded intermediates. The term "groES" refers to an oligonucleotide sequence which encodes a protein that is also known as HSP10, 10-kDa heat shock protein, cpnlO or ChsplO in some prokaryotes (Betsou, etal, 1999; LaVerda et al., 1999; Richardson etal, 1998) and that facilitate folding protein process in collaboration with the GroEL protein by encapsulating it to form a cis ternary complex, these changes drive the polypeptide into the sequestered cavity and initiate its folding (Sigler et al.. , X 998) . The term "microorganism" means a bacteria, fungi or virus having either a groEL or groES gene. The term "bacteria" refers to any bacteria encoding either a groEL or groES gene, including Escherichi coli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Salmonella typhimurium, Thermoplasma acidophilum, Pyrococcus furiosus , Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus firmus , Lactococcus lactis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus carnosus, Listeria monocytogenes , Borrelia burgdorferi, P. sativum, S. griseus, Synechoccus sp., Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas sp., Neisseria meningitidis, Helicobacter pilori and Clostridium difficile. The term "virus" refers to any virus having a groEL or groES gene. Preferably the virus will be a DNA virus. Examples of suitable viruses include various heφes viruses (such as 'heφes simplex types 1 and 2, varicella-heφes zoster, cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus) and the various hepatitis viruses. "Sequence homology" refers to the proportion of base matches between two nucleic acid sequences or the proportion amino acid matches between two amino acid sequences. When sequence homology is expressed as a percentage, e.g., 50%, the percentage denotes the proportion of matches over the length from a desired sequence (e.g. groESL sequences, such as SEQ ID NOs: 1-15) that is compared to some other sequence. Gaps (in either of the two sequences) are permitted to maximise matching; gap lengths of 15 bases or less are usually used, 6 bases or less are preferred with 2 bases or less more preferred. When using oligonucleotides as probes or treatments the sequence homology between the target nucleic acid and the oligonucleotide sequence is generally not less than 17 target base matches out of 20 possible oligonucleotide base pair matches (85%); preferably not less than 9 matches out of 10 possible base pair matches (90%), and most preferably not less than 19 matches out of 20 possible base pair matches (95%). "Selectively hybridise" refers to the ability to detectably and specifically bind. Polynucleotides, oligonucleotides and fragments thereof selectively hybridise to target nucleic acid strands under hybridisation and wash conditions that minimise appreciable amounts of detectable binding to nonspecific nucleic acids. High stringency conditions can be used to achieve selective hybridisation conditions as known in the art and discussed herein. Generally, the nucleic acid sequence homology between the polynucleotides, oligonucleotides, and fragments thereof and a nucleic acid sequence of interest will be at least 30%, and more typically with preferably increasing homologies of at least about 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 90%. Typically, hybridisation and washing conditions are performed at high stringency according to conventional hybridisation procedures. Positive clones are isolated and sequenced. Typical hybridisation conditions for screening plaque lifts (Benton and Davis (1978) Science 196:180) can be: 50% formamide, 5 x SSC or SSPE, 1-5 x Denhardt's solution, 0.1-1% SDS, 100-200 μg sheared heterologous DNA or tRNA, 0-10% dextran sulfate, I xlO 5 to 1 x 10 7 cpm/ml of denatured probe with a specific activity of about I x 10 5 cpm/μg, and incubation at 42°C for about 6-36 hours. Prehybridisation conditions are essentially identical except that probe is not included and incubation time is typically reduced. Washing conditions are typically 1-3 x SSC, 0.1-1% SDS, 50-70 C with change of wash solution at about 5-30 minutes. Cognate sequences, including allelic sequences, can be obtained in this manner. Two amino acid sequences are homologous if there is a partial or complete identity between their sequences. For example, 85% homology means that 85% of the amino acids are identical when the two sequences are aligned for maximum matching. Gaps (in either of the two sequences being matched) are allowed in maximising matching; gap lengths of 5 or less are preferred with 2 or less being more preferred. "Corresponds to" refers to a polynucleotide sequence that is homologous (i.e., is identical, not strictly evolutionarily related) to all or a portion of a reference polynucleotide sequence, or to a polypeptide sequence that is identical to all or a portion of a reference polypeptide sequence. In contradistinction, the term "complementary to" is used herein to mean that the polynucleotide sequence is homologous to all or a portion of the complement of a reference polynucleotide sequence. For illustration, the nucleotide sequence "TAT AC" corresponds to a reference sequence "TAT AC" and is complementary to a reference sequence "GTATA". Preferably the antisense oligonucleotide sequence has at least about 75% identity with the target sequence, preferably at least about 90% identity and most preferably at least about 95% identity with the target sequence allowing for gaps or mismatches of several bases. Identitiy can be determined, for example, by using the BLASTN program of the University of Wisconsin Computer Group (GCG) software. The following terms are used to describe the sequence relationships between two or more polynucleotides: "reference sequence," "comparison window," "sequence identity," "percentage of sequence identity," and "substantial identity." A "reference sequence" is a defined sequence used as a basis for a sequence comparison; a reference sequence may be a subset of a larger sequence, for example, as a segment of a full-length cDNA or gene sequence given in a sequence listing such as SEQ ID NO:l, or may comprise a complete cDNA or gene sequence. Generally, a reference sequence is at least 20 nucleotides in length, frequently at least 25 nucleotides in length, and often at least 50 nucleotides in length. Since two polynucleotides may each (1) comprise a sequence (i.e., a portion of the complete polynucleotide sequence) that is similar between the two polynucleotides, and (2) may further comprise a sequence that is divergent between the two polynucleotides. sequence; comparisons between two (or more) polynucleotides are typically performed by comparing sequences of the two polynucleotides over a "comparison window" to identify and compare local regions of sequence similarity. A "comparison window", as used herein, refers to a conceptual segment of at least 20 contiguous nucleotide positions wherein a polynucleotide sequence may be compared to a reference sequence of at least 20 contiguous nucleotides and wherein the portion of the polynucleotide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) of 20 percent or less as compared to the reference sequence (which does not comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignment of the two sequences. Optimal alignment of sequences for aligning a comparison window may be conducted by the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman (1981) Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482, by the homology alignment algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch (1970) J. Mol. Biol. 48: 443, by the search for similarity method of Pearson and Lipman (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (U.S.A.) 85: 2444, by computerized implementations of these algorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin Genetics Software Package Release 7.0, Genetics Computer Group, 573 Science Dr., Madison, WI), or by inspection, and the best alignment (i.e., resulting in the highest percentage of homology over the comparison window) generated by the various methods is selected. The term "sequence identity" means that two polynucleotide sequences are identical (i.e., on a nucleotide-by-nucleotide basis) over the window of comparison. The term "percentage of sequence identity" is calculated by comparing two optimally aligned sequences over the window of comparison, determining the number of positions at which the identical nucleic acid base (e.g., A, T, C, G, U, or I) occurs in both sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the window of comparison (i.e., the window size), and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity. The term "substantial identity" as used herein denotes a characteristic of a polynucleotide sequence, wherein the polynucleotide comprises a sequence that has at least 30 percent sequence identity, preferably at least 50 to 60 percent sequence identity, more usually at least 60 percent sequence identity as compared to a reference sequence over a comparison window of at least 20 nucleotide positions, frequently over a window of at least 25-50 nucleotides, wherein the percentage of sequence identity is calculated by comparing the reference sequence to the polynucleotide sequence which may include deletions or additions which total 20 percent or less of the reference sequence over the window of comparison. The term "inhibiting growth" means a reduction in the growth of the bacteria or viruses of at least 25%, more preferably of at least 50% and most preferably of at least 75%. The reduction in growth can be determined for bacteria by a measuring the optical density of a liquid bacteria culture with a spectrophotometer or by counting the number of colony forming units/ml (CFU/ml) upon plating on culture plates. The reduction in growth can be determined for viruses by measuring the number of plaque forming units/ml upon plating on susceptible cells. The term "alkyl" refers to monovalent alkyl groups preferably having from 1 to 20 carbon • atoms and more preferably 1 to 6 carbon atoms. This term is exemplified by groups such as methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, rc-butyl, iso-butyl, n-hexyl, and the like. The term "aryl" refers to an unsaturated aromatic carbocyclic group of from 6 to 14 carbon atoms having a single ring (e.g., phenyl) or multiple condensed (fused) rings (e.g., naphthyl or anthryl). Preferred aryls include phenyl, naphthyl and the like. The term "cycloalkyl" refers to cyclic alkyl groups of from 3 to 20 carbon atoms having a single cyclic ring or multiple condensed rings. Such cycloalkyl groups include, by way of example, single ring structures such as cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclooctyl, and the like, or multiple ring structures such as adamantanyl, and the like. The term "halo" or "halogen" refers to fluoro, chloro, bromo and iodo and preferably is either fluoro or chloro. The term "thiol" refers to the group -SH. As to any of the above groups which contain one or more substituents, it is understood, of course, that such groups do not contain any substitution or substitution patterns which are sterically impractical and/or synthetically non-feasible. In addition, the compounds of this invention include all stereochemical isomers arising from the substitution of these compounds. Antisense Oligonucleotides of the Present Invention It is preferred to target specific nucleic acids for antisense. "Targeting" an antisense compound to a particular nucleic acid, in the context of this invention, is a multistep process. The process usually begins with the identification of a nucleic acid sequence whose function is to be modulated. This may be, for example, a cellular gene (or mRNA transcribed from the gene) whose expression is associated with a particular disorder or disease state, or a nucleic acid molecule from an infectious agent. In the present invention, the target is a nucleic acid molecule encoding bacterial groES or groEL. The targeting process also includes determination of a site or sites within this gene for the antisense interaction to occur such that the desired effect, e.g., detection or modulation of expression of the protein, will result. Within the context of the present invention, a preferred intragenic site is the region encompassing the translation initiation or termination codon of the open reading frame (ORF) of the gene. The antisense oligonucleotides may be complementary to the complete groEL or groES genes including the introns. Preferably, the antisense oligonucleotides are complimentary to the mRNA region from the groEL or groES gene. In one embodiment of the present invention the antisense oligonucleotides comprise from at least about 5 nucleotides or nucleotide analogues that may be from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides or nucleotide analogues, or from about 7 to about 35 nucleotides or nucleotide analogues or from about 15 to about 25 nucleotide or nucleotide analogues, and further comprise all or part of the sequences set forth in Tables 1 - 4. The antisense oligonucleotides may be selected from the sequence complementary to the groEL vgroES genes such that the sequence exhibits the least likelihood of showing duplex formation, hair-pin formation, and homooligomer/sequence repeats but has a high to moderate potential to bind to the groEL or groES gene sequence and contains a GC clamp. These properties may be determined using the computer modelling program OLIGO ® Primer Analysis Software, Version 5.0 (distributed by National Biosciences, Inc., Plymouth, MN). This computer program allows the determination of a qualitative estimation of these five parameters. Alternatively, the antisense oligonucleotides may also be selected on the basis that the sequence is highly conserved for either the groEL or groES genes between two or more microbial species. These properties may be determined using the BLASTN program (Altschul, et al., J Mol Biol (1990) 215, 403-10) of the University of Wisconsin Computer group (GCG) software (Devereux. et al., Nucleic Acids Res. (1984) 12:387-395) with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. Preferably the antisense sequence is not conserved in the human groEL or groES genes. The terms "translation initiation codon" and "start codon" can encompass many codon sequences, even though the initiator amino acid in each instance is typically methionine (in eukaryotes) or formylmethionine (in prokaryotes). It is also known in the art that eukaryotic and prokaryotic genes may have two or more alternative start codons, any one of which may be preferentially utilised for translation initiation in a particular cell type or tissue, or under a particular set of conditions. In the context of the invention, "start codon" and "translation initiation codon" refer to the codon or codons that are used in vivo to initiate translation of an mRNA molecule transcribed from a gene encoding groES or groEL, regardless of the sequence (s) of such codons. The open reading frame (ORF) or "coding region," which is known in the art to refer to the region between the translation initiation codon and the translation termination codon, is also a region which may be targeted effectively. Other target regions include the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR), known in the art to refer to the portion of an mRNA in the 5' direction from the translation initiation codon, and thus including nucleotides between the 5' cap site and the translation initiation codon of an mRNA or corresponding nucleotides on the gene, and the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR), known in the art to refer to the portion of an mRNA in the 3' direction from the translation termination codon, and thus including nucleotides between the translation termination codon and 3' end of an mRNA or corresponding nucleotides on the gene. The 5' cap of an mRNA comprises an N 7 - methylated guanosine residue joined to the 5'-most residue of the mRNA via a 5'-5' triphosphate linkage. The 5' cap region of an mRNA is considered to include the 5' cap structure itself as well as the first 50 nucleotides adjacent to the cap. The 5' cap region may also be a preferred target region. Although some eukaryotic mRNA transcripts are directly translated, many contain one or more regions, known as "introns," which are excised from a transcript before it is translated. The remaining (and therefore translated) regions are known as "exons" and are spliced together to form a continuous mRNA sequence. mRNA splice sites, i.e., intron- exon junctions, may also be preferred target regions, and are particularly useful in situations where aberrant splicing is implicated in disease, or where an oveφroduction of a particular mRNA splice product is implicated in disease. Aberrant fusion junctions due to rearrangements or deletions are also preferred targets. It has also been found that introns can also be effective, and therefore preferred, target regions for antisense compounds targeted, for example, to DNA or pre-mRNA. Once one or more target sites have been identified, oligonucleotides are chosen which are sufficiently complementary to the target, i.e., hybridise sufficiently well and with sufficient specificity, to give the desired effect. In the context of this invention, the term "oligonucleotide" refers to an oligomer or polymer of ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or mimetics thereof. This term includes oligonucleotides composed of naturally-occurring nucleobases, sugars and covalent internucleoside (backbone) linkages as well as oligonucleotides having non- naturally-occurring portions which function similarly. Such modified or substituted oligonucleotides are often preferred over native forms because of desirable properties such as, for example, enhanced cellular uptake, enhanced affinity for nucleic acid target and increased stability in the presence of nucleases. As is known in the art, a nucleoside is a base-sugar combination. The base portion of the nucleoside is normally a heterocyclic base. The two most common classes of such heterocyclic bases are the purines and the pyrimidines. Nucleotides are nucleosides that further include a phosphate group covalently linked to the sugar portion of the nucleoside. For those nucleosides that include a pentofuranosyl sugar, the phosphate group can be linked to either the 2', 3' or 5' hydroxyl moiety of the sugar. In forming oligonucleotides, the phosphate groups covalently link adjacent nucleosides to one another to form a linear polymeric compound. In turn the respective ends of this linear polymeric structure can be further joined to form a circular structure, however, open linear structures are generally preferred. Within the oligonucleotide structure, the phosphate groups are commonly referred to as forming the internucleoside backbone of the oligonucleotide. The normal linkage or backbone of RNA and DNA is a 3' to 5' phosphodiester linkage. Specific examples of antisense compounds useful in this invention include oligonucleotides containing modified backbones or non-natural internucleoside linkages. As defined in this specification, oligonucleotides having modified backbones include those that retain a phosphorus atom in the backbone and those that do not have a phosphorus atom in the backbone. For the puφoses of this specification, and as sometimes referenced in the art, modified oligonucleotides that do not have a phosphorus atom in their, internucleoside backbone can also be considered to be oligonucleosides. Exemplary modified oligonucleotide backbones include, for example, phosphorothioates, chiral phosphorothioates, phosphorodithioates, phosphotriesters, aminoalkylphosphotriesters, methyl and other alkyl phosphonates including 3'-alkylene phosphonates and chiral phosphonates, phosphinates, phosphoramidates including 3'amino phosphoramidate and aminoalkylphosphoramidates, thionophosphoramidates, thionoalkylphosphonates, thionoalkylphosphotriesters, and boranophosphates having normal 3'-5' linkages, 2'-5' linked analogs of these, and those having inverted polarity wherein the adjacent pairs of nucleoside units are linked 3'-5' to 5'-3' or 2'-5' to 5'-2'. Various salts, mixed salts and free acid forms are also included. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of the above phosphorus- containing linkages include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,687,808; 4,469,863; 4,476,301; 5,023,243; 5,177,196; 5,188,897; 5,264,423; 5,276,019; 5,278,302; 5,286,717; 5,321,131; 5,399,676; 5,405,939; 5,453,496; 5,455,233; 5,466,677; 5,476,925; 5,519,126; 5,536,821; 5,541,306; 5,550,111; 5,563,253; 5,571,799; 5,587,361; and 5,625,050. Exemplary modified oligonucleotide backbones that do not include a phosphorus atom therein have backbones that are formed by short chain alkyl or cycloalkyl internucleoside linkages, mixed heteroatom and alkyl or cycloalkyl internucleoside linkages, or one or more short chain heteroatomic or heterocyclic internucleoside linkages. These include those having moφholino linkages (formed in part from the sugar portion of a nucleoside); siloxane backbones; sulfide, sulfoxide and sulfone backbones; formacetyl and thioformacetyl backbones; methylene formacetyl and thioformacetyl backbones; alkene containing backbones; sulfamate backbones; methyleneimino and methylenehydrazino backbones; sulfonate and sulfonamide backbones; amide backbones; and others having mixed N, O, S and CH 2 component parts. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of the above oligonucleosides include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,034,506; 5,166,315; 5,185,444; 5,214,134; 5,216,141; 5,235,033; 5,264,562; 5,264,564; 5,405,938; 5,434,257 5,466,677; 5,470,967; 5,489,677; 5,541,307; 5,561,225; 5,596,086; 5,602,240; 5,610,289 5,602,240; 5,608,046; 5,610,289; 5,618,704; 5,623,070; 5,663,312; 5,633,360; 5,677,437 and 5,677,439. In other oligonucleotide mimetics, both the sugar and the internucleoside linkage, i.e., the backbone, of the nucleotide units are replaced with novel groups. The base units are maintained for hybridisation with an appropriate nucleic acid target compound. One such oligomeric compound, an oligonucleotide mimetic that has been shown to have excellent hybridization properties, is referred to as a peptide nucleic acid (PNA). In PNA compounds, the sugar-backbone of an oligonucleotide is replaced with an amide containing backbone, in particular an aminoethylglycine backbone. The nucleobases are retained and are bound directly or indirectly to aza nitrogen atoms of the amide portion of the backbone. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of PNA compounds include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat Nos.: 5,539,082; 5,714,331; and 5,719,262. Further teaching of PNA compounds can be found in Nielsen et al. , Science, 1991, 254, 1497-1500. Exemplary embodiments of the invention are oligonucleotides with phosphorothioate backbones and oligonucleosides with heteroatom backbones, and in particular ~CH 2 --NH- -O-CH 2 -, ~CH 2 -N(CH 3 )-O~CH 2 - [known as a methylene (methylimino) or MMI backbone], -CH 2 -O-N(CH 3 )-CH 2 --, -CH 2 -N(CH 3 )-N(CH 3 )-CH 2 - and -O- N(CH 3 )--CH 2 -CH 2 — [wherein the native phosphodiester backbone is represented as -O— P-O~CH 2 --] of the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,677, and the amide backbones of the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,240. Also preferred are oligonucleotides having moφholino backbone structures of the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,506. Modified oligonucleotides may also contain one or more substituted sugar moieties. Preferred oligonucleotides comprise one of the following at the 2' position: OH; F; O-, S-, or N-alkyl; O-, S-, or N-alkenyl; O-, S- or N-alkynyl; or O-alkyl-O-alkyl, wherein the alkyl, alkenyl and alkynyl may be substituted or unsubstituted C to C 10 alkyl or C 2 to C 10 ' alkenyl and alkynyl. Particularly preferred are O[(CH 2 ) n O] m CH 3 , O(CH 2 ) n OCH 3 , O(CH 2 ) n NH 2 , O(CH 2 ) n CH 3 , O(CH 2 ) n ONH 2 , and O(CH 2 ) n ON[(CH 2 )„ CH 3 )] 2 , where n and m are from 1 to about 10. Other preferred oligonucleotides comprise one of the following at the 2' position: C, to C 10 lower alkyl, substituted lower alkyl, alkaryl, aralkyl, O-alkaryl or O- aralkyl, SH, SCH 3 , OCN, Cl, Br, CN, CF 3 , OCF 3 , SOCH 3 , SO 2 CH 3 , ONO 2 , NO 2 , N 3 , NH 2 , heterocycloalkyl, heterocycloalkaryl, aminoalkylamino, polyalkylamino, substituted silyl, an RNA cleaving group, a reporter group, an intercalator, a group for improving the pharmacokinetic properties of an oligonucleotide, or a group for improving the pharmacodynamic properties of an oligonucleotide, and other substituents having similar properties. A preferred modification includes 2'-methoxyethoxy (2'-O-CH 2 CH 2 OCH 3 , also known as 2'-O-(2-methoxyethyl) or 2'-MOE) (Martin et al. , Helv. Chim. Acta, 1995, 78, 486-504) i.e., an alkoxyalkoxy group. A further preferred modification includes 2'- dimethylaminooxyethoxy, i.e., a O(CH 2 ) 2 ON(CH 3 ) 2 group, also known as 2'-DMAOE, as described in examples hereinbelow. Other preferred modifications include 2'-methoxy (2'-O-CH 3 ), 2'-aminopropoxy (2'-OCH 2 CH 2 CH 2 NH 2 ) and 2'-fluoro (2'-F). Similar modifications may also be made at other positions on the oligonucleotide, particularly the 3' position of the sugar on the 3' terminal nucleotide or in 2'-5' linked oligonucleotides and the 5' position of 5' terminal nucleotide. Oligonucleotides may also have sugar mimetics such as cyclobutyl moieties in place of the pentofuranosyl sugar. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such modified sugar structures include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,981,957; 5,118,800; 5,319,080; 5,359,044; 5,393,878; 5,446,137; 5,466,786; 5,514,785; 5,519,134; 5,567,811; 5,576,427; 5,591,722; 5,597,909; 5,610,300; 5,627,053; 5,639,873; 5,646,265; 5,658,873; 5,670,633; and 5,700,920. Oligonucleotides may also include nucleobase (often referred to in the art simply as "base") modifications or substitutions. As used herein, "unmodified" or "natural" nucleobases include the purine bases adenine (A) and guanine (G), and the pyrimidine bases thymine (T), cytosine (C) and uracil (U). Modified nucleobases include other synthetic and natural nucleobases such as 5-methylcytosine (5-me-C), 5- hydroxymethyl cytosine, xanthine, hypoxanthine, 2-aminoadenine, 6-methyl and other alkyl derivatives of adenine and guanine, 2-propyl and other alkyl derivatives of adenine and guanine, 2- thiouracil, 2-thiothymine and 2-thiocytosine, 5-halouracil and cytosine, 5-propynyl uracil and cytosine, 6-azo uracil, cytosine and thymine, 5-uracil (pseudouracil), 4-thiouracil, 8- halo, 8-amino, 8-thiol, 8-thioalkyl, 8-hydroxyl and other 8-substituted adenines and guanines, 5-halo particularly 5-bromo, 5-trifluoromethyl and other 5-substituted uracils and cytosines, 7-methylguanine and 7-methyladenine, 8-azaguanine and 8-azaadenine, 7- deazaguanine and 7-deazaadenine and 3-deazaguanine and 3-deazaadenine. Further ' nucleobases include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,808, those disclosed in The Concise Encyclopedia Of Polymer Science And Engineering, pages 858-859, Kroschwitz, J. I., ed. John Wiley & Sons, 1990, those disclosed by Englisch etal, Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 1991, 30, 613, and those disclosed by Sanghvi, Y. S., Chapter 15, Antisense Research and Applications, pages 289-302, Crooke, S. T. and Lebleu, B., ed., CRC Press, 1993. Certain of these nucleobases are particularly useful for increasing the binding affinity of the oligomeric compounds of the invention. These include 5-substituted pyrimidines, 6-azapyrimidines and N-2, N-6 and O-6 substituted purines, including 2-aminopropyladenine, 5-propynyluracil and 5-propynylcytosine. 5- methylcytosine substitutions have been shown to increase nucleic acid duplex stability by 0.6-1.2 s C. (Sanghvi, Y. S., Crooke, S. T. and Lebleu, B., eds., Antisense Research and Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1993, pp. 276-278) and are presently preferred base substitutions, even more particularly when combined with 2'-O-methoxyethyl sugar modifications. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of certain of the above ~ noted modified nucleobases as well as other modified nucleobases include, but are not limited to, the above noted U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,808, as well as U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,845,205; 5,130,302; 5,134,066; 5,175,273; 5,367,066; 5,432,272; 5,457,187; 5,459,255; 5,484,908; 5,502,177; 5,525,711; 5,552,540; 5,587,469; 5,594,121, 5,596,091; 5,614,617; 5,681,941, and 5,750,692. Another modification of the oligonucleotides of the invention involves chemically linking to the oligonucleotide one or more moieties or conjugates which enhance the activity, cellular distribution or cellular uptake of the oligonucleotide. Such moieties include but are not limited to lipid moieties such as a cholesterol moiety (Letsinger et al. , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1989, 86, 6553-6556), cholic acid (Manoharan etal, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Let., 1994, 4, 1053-1060), a thioether, e.g., hexyl-S-tritylthiol (Manoharan et al. , Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1992, 660, 306-309; Manoharan etal, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 1993, 3, 2765-2770), a thiocholesterol (Oberhauser et al. , Nucl. Acids Res., 1992, 20, 533-538), an aliphatic chain, e.g., dodecandiol or undecyl residues (Saison-Behmoaras et al, EMBO J., 1991, 10, 1111-1118; Kabanov etal, FEBS Lett., 1990, 259, 327-330; Svinarchuk et al, Biochimie, 1993, 75, 49-54), a phospholipid, e.g., di-hexadecyl-rac- glycerol or triethylammonium l,2-di-O-hexadecyl-rac-glycero-3-H-phosphonate (Manoharan et al. , Tetrahedron Lett., 1995, 36, 3651-3654; Shea et al. , Nucl. Acids Res., 1990, 18, 3777-3783), a polyamine or a polyethylene glycol chain (Manoharan et al. , Nucleosides & Nucleotides, 1995, 14, 969-973), or adamantane acetic acid (Manoharan et al, Tetrahedron Lett., 1995, 36, 3651-3654), a palmityl moiety (Mishra et al, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1995, 1264, 229-237), or an octadecylamine or hexylamino-carbonyl- ' oxycholesterol moiety (Crooke et al , J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 1996, 277, 923-937. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such oligonucleotide conjugates include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,828,979; 4,948,882; 5,218,105; 5,525,465; 5,541,313; 5,545,730; 5,552,538; 5,578,717, 5,580,731; 5,580,731; 5,591,584 5,109,124; 5,118,802; 5,138,045; 5,414,077; 5,486,603; 5,512,439; 5,578,718; 5,608,046 4,587,044; 4,605,735; 4,667,025; 4,762,779; 4,789,737; 4,824,941; 4,835,263; 4,876,335 4,904,582; 4,958,013; 5,082,830; 5,112,963; 5,214,136; 5,082,830; 5,112,963; 5,214,136 5,245,022; 5,254,469; 5,258,506; 5,262,536; 5,272,250; 5,292,873; 5,317,098; 5,371,241 5,391,723; 5,416,203, 5,451,463; 5,510,475; 5,512,667; 5,514,785; 5,565,552; 5,567,810 5,574,142; 5,585,481; 5,587,371; 5,595,726; 5,597,696; 5,599,923; 5,599,928 and 5,688,941. It is not necessary for all positions in a given compound to be uniformly modified, and in fact more than one of the aforementioned modifications may be incoφorated in a single compound or even at a single nucleoside within an oligonucleotide. The present invention also includes antisense compounds which are chimeric compounds. "Chimeric" antisense compounds or "chimeras," in the context of this invention, are antisense compounds, particularly oligonucleotides, which contain two or more chemically distinct regions, each made up of at least one monomer unit, i.e., a nucleotide in the case of an oligonucleotide compound. These oligonucleotides typically contain at least one region wherein the oligonucleotide is modified so as to confer upon the oligonucleotide increased resistance to nuclease degradation, increased cellular uptake, and/or increased binding affinity for the target nucleic acid. An additional region of the oligonucleotide may serve as a substrate for enzymes capable of cleaving RNA:DNA or RNA:RNA hybrids. By way of example, RNase H is a cellular endonuclease which cleaves the RNA strand of an RNA:DNA duplex. Activation of RNase H, therefore, results in cleavage of the RNA target, thereby greatly enhancing the efficiency of oligonucleotide inhibition of gene expression. Consequently, comparable results can often be obtained with shorter oligonucleotides when chimeric oligonucleotides are used, compared to phosphorothioate deoxy oligonucleotides hybridizing to the same target region. Cleavage of the RNA target can be routinely detected by gel electrophoresis and, if necessary, associated nucleic acid hybridization techniques known in the art. Chimeric antisense compounds of the invention may be formed as composite structures of two or more oligonucleotides, modified oligonucleotides, oligonucleosides and/or oligonucleotide mimetics as described above. Such compounds have also been referred to in the art as hybrids or gapmers. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such hybrid structures include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: ' 5,013,830; 5,149,797; 5,220,007; 5,256,775; 5,366,878; 5,403,711; 5,491,133; 5,565,350; 5,623,065; 5,652,355; 5,652,356; and 5,700,922 The oligonucleotides of the present invention are "nuclease resistant" when they have either been modified such that they are not susceptible to degradation by DNA and RNA nucleases or alternatively they have been placed in a delivery vehicle which in itself protects the oligonucleotide from DNA or RNA nucleases. Nuclease resistant oligonucleotides include, for example, methyl phosphonates, phosphorothioates, phosphorodithioates, phosphotriesters, and moφholino oligomers. Suitable delivery vehicles for conferring nuclease resistance include, for example liposomes. The oligonucleotides of the present invention may also contain groups, such as groups for improving the pharmacokinetic properties of an oligonucleotide, or groups for improving the pharmacodynamic properties of an oligonucleotide. In the case of Mycolplasma smegmatis (prokaryote), the entry of the antisense oligonucleotide can be facilitated by attaching biotin (a labelling agent) to the 5' end of the oligonucleotide (Rapaport et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1996) 93:709-713). The term "pharmaceutically acceptable salt" refers to salts which retain the biological effectiveness and properties of the antisense oligonucleotides of this invention and which are not biologically or otherwise undesirable. In many cases, the antisense oligonucleotides of this invention are capable of forming acid and/or base salts by virtue of the presence of amino and/or carboxyl groups or groups similar thereto. Pharmaceutically acceptable base addition salts can be prepared from inorganic and organic bases. Salts derived from inorganic bases, include by way of example only, sodium, potassium, lithium, ammonium, calcium and magnesium salts. Salts derived from organic bases include, but are not limited to, salts of primary, secondary and tertiary amines, such as alkyl amines, dialkyl amines, trialkyl amines, substituted alkyl amines, di (substituted alkyl) amines, tri (substituted alkyl) amines, alkenyl amines, dialkenyl amines, trialkenyl amines, substituted alkenyl amines, di (substituted alkenyl) amines, tri (substituted alkenyl) amines, cycloalkyl amines, di (cycloalkyl) amines, tri (cycloalkyl) amines, substituted cycloalkyl amines, disubstituted cycloalkyl amine, trisubstituted cycloalkyl amines, cycloalkenyl amines, di(cycloalkenyl) amines, tri(cycloalkenyl) amines, substituted cycloalkenyl amines, disubstituted cycloalkenyl amine, trisubstituted cycloalkenyl amines, aryl amines, diaryl amines, triaryl amines, heteroaryl amines, diheteroaryl amines, triheteroaryl amines, heterocyclic amines, diheterocyclic amines, triheterocyclic amines, mixed di- and tri-amines where at least two of the substituents on the amine are different and are selected from the group consisting of alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, cycloalkyl, substituted cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, substituted cycloalkenyl, aryl, heteroaryl, heterocyclic, and the like. Also included are amines where the two or three substituents, together with the amino nitrogen, form a heterocyclic or heteroaryl group. Examples of suitable amines include, by way of example only, isopropylamine, trimethyl amine, diethyl amine, tri(i_so-propyl) amine, tri(n-propyl) amine, ethanolamine, 2- dimethylaminoethanol, tromethamine, lysine, arginine, histidine, caffeine, procaine, hydrabamine, choline, betaine, ethylenediamine, glucosamine, N-alkylglucamines, theobromine, purines, piperazine, piperidine, moφholine, N-ethylpiperidine, and the like. It should also be understood that other carboxylic acid derivatives would be useful in the practice of this invention, for example, carboxylic acid amides, including carboxamides, lower alkyl carboxamides, dialkyl carboxamides, and the like. Pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts may be prepared from inorganic and organic acids. Salts derived from inorganic acids include hydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, and the like. Salts derived from organic acids include acetic acid, propionic acid, glycolic acid, pyruvic acid, oxalic acid, malic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, mandelic acid, methanesulfonic acid, ethanesulfonic acid, ?- toluene-sulfonic acid, salicylic acid, and the like. Preparation of the Antisense Oligonucleotides of the Present Invention The antisense oligonucleotides of the present invention may be prepared by conventional and well-known techniques. For example, the oligonucleotides may be prepared using solid-phase synthesis and in particular using commercially available equipment such as the equipment available from Applied Biosystems Canada Inc., Mississauga, Canada. The oligonucleotides may also be prepared by enzymatic digestion of the naturally occurring groEL orgroES genes by methods known in the art. Isolation and Purification of the Antisense Oligonucleotides Isolation and purification of the antisense oligonucleotides described herein can be effected, if desired, by any suitable separation or purification such as, for example, filtration, extraction, crystallization, column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, thick-layer chromatography, preparative low or high-pressure liquid chromatography or a combination of these procedures. However, other equivalent separation or isolation procedures could, of course, also be used. Although oligonucleotides are taken up by bacterial cells, some modification of the oligonucleotides may help facilitate or regulate said uptake. Thus, a carrier molecule, for example an amino acid, can be linked to the oligonucleotide. For example, bacteria have multiple transport systems for the recognition and uptake of molecules of leucine. The addition of this amino acid to the oligonucleotide may facilitate the uptake of the oligonucleotide in the bacteria and not substantially interfere with the activity of the antisense oligonucleotide in the bacterial cell. Other methods are contemplated for facilitating the uptake of the antisense oligonucleotide into bacteria. For example, the addition of other amino acids or peptides or primary amines to the 3' or 5' termini of the antisense oligonucleotide may enable utilisation of specific transport systems. Addition of lactose to the oligonucleotide by a covalent linkage may also be used to enable transport of the antisense oligonucleotide by lactose permease. Other sugar transport systems are also known to be functional in bacteria and can be utilised in this invention. With regard to inhibiting the expression of groEL or groES in DNA viruses, the antisense oligonucleotide is preferably introduced into the cell infected with the DNA virus. The antisense oligonucleotides may be delivered using vectors or liposomes. An expression vector comprising the antisense oligonucleotide sequence may be constructed having regard to the sequence of the oligonucleotide and using procedures known in the art. The vectors may be selected from plasmids or benign viral vectors depending on the eukaryotic cell and the DNA virus. Phagemids are a specific example of beneficial vectors because they can be used either as plasmids or a bacteriophage vectors. Examples of other vectors include viruses such as bacteriophages, baculoviruses and retroviruses, DNA viruses, liposomes and other recombination vectors. Vectors can be constructed by those skilled in the art to contain all the expression elements required to achieve the desired transcription of the antisense oligonucleotide sequences. Therefore, the invention provides vectors comprising a transcription control sequence operatively linked to a sequence which encodes an antisense oligonucleotide. Suitable transcription and translation elements may be derived from a variety of sources, including bacterial, fungal, viral, mammalian or insect genes. Selection of appropriate elements is dependent on the host cell chosen. Reporter genes may be included in the vector. Suitable reporter genes include β- galactosidase (e.g. lacZ), chloramphenicol, acetyl-transf erase, firefly luciferase, or an immunoglobulin or portion thereof. Transcription of the antisense oligonucleotide may be monitored by monitoring for the expression of the reporter gene. The vectors can be introduced into cells or tissues by any one of a variety of known methods within the art. Such methods can be found generally described in Sambrook et al., 1992; Ausubel et al., 1989; Chang et al., 1995; Vega et al. 1995; and Vectors: A Survey of Molecular Cloning Vectors and Their Uses (1988) and include, for example, stable or transient transfection, lipofection, electroporation and infection with recombinant viral vectors. Introduction of nucleic acids by infection offers several advantages. Higher efficiency and specificity for tissue type can be obtained. Viruses typically infect and propagate in specific cell types. Thus, the virus' specificity may be used to target the vector to specific cell types in vivo or within a tissue or mixed culture of cells. Viral vectors can also be modified with specific receptors or ligands to alter target specificity through receptor mediated events. Testing Antisense Oligonucleotides for Anti-groE Effect The invention contemplates a method of evaluating if an antisense oligonucleotide inhibits the growth of a microbe having agroEL oτgroES gene. The method comprises selecting the microbe/microorganism having agroEL or groES gene present at measurable levels, administering the antisense oligonucleotide; and comparing the growth of the treated microbe with the growth of an untreated microorganism. The effect of the antisense oligonucleotide on expression of the groES or groEL gene can be readily determined by methods routine in the art, for example Northern blot analysis, ribonuclease protection assays, or RT-PCR. In order for the antisense oligonucleotide to effectively interrupt the expression of the groEL or groES gene, the antisense oligonucleotide enters the microorganism's cell, in the case of fungal or bacterial cells or enter the mammalian cell having the virus target. Pharmaceutical Formulations When employed as pharmaceuticals, the antisense oligonucleotides are usually administered in the form of pharmaceutical compositions. These compounds can be administered by a variety of routes including oral, rectal, transdermal, subcutaneous, intravenous, intramuscular, and intranasal. These compounds are effective as both injectable and oral compositions. Such compositions are prepared in a manner well known in the pharmaceutical art and comprise at least one active compound. This invention also includes pharmaceutical compositions which contain, as the active ingredient, one or more of the antisense oligonucleotides associated with pharmaceutically acceptable carriers. In making the compositions of this invention, the active ingredient is usually mixed with an excipient, diluted by an excipient or enclosed within such a carrier which can be in the form of a capsule, sachet, paper or other container. When the excipient serves as a diluent, it can be a solid, semi-solid, or liquid material, which acts as a vehicle, carrier or medium for the active ingredient. Thus, the compositions can be in the form of tablets, pills, powders, lozenges, sachets, cachets, elixirs, suspensions, emulsions, solutions, syrups, aerosols (as a solid or in a liquid medium), ointments containing, for example, up to 10% by weight of the active compound, soft and hard gelatin capsules, suppositories, sterile injectable solutions, and sterile packaged powders. In preparing a formulation, it may be necessary to mill the active compound to provide the appropriate particle size prior to combining with the other ingredients. If the active compound is substantially insoluble, it ordinarily is milled to a particle size of less than 200 mesh. If the active compound is substantially water soluble, the particle size is normally adjusted by milling to provide a substantially uniform distribution in the formulation, e.g. about 40 mesh. Some examples of suitable excipients include lactose, dextrose, sucrose, sorbitol, mannitol, starches, gum acacia, calcium phosphate, alginates, tragacanth, gelatin, calcium silicate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, cellulose, sterile water, syrup, and methyl cellulose. The formulations can additionally include: lubricating agents such as talc, magnesium stearate, and mineral oil; wetting agents; emulsifying and suspending agents; preserving agents such as methyl- and propylhydroxy-benzoates; sweetening agents; and flavoring agents. The compositions of the invention can be formulated so as to provide quick, sustained or delayed release of the active ingredient after administration to the patient by employing procedures known in the art. The compositions are preferably formulated in a unit dosage form, each dosage containing from about 5 to about 100 mg, more usually about 10 to about 30 mg, of the active ingredient. The term "unit dosage forms" refers to physically discrete units suitable as unitary dosages for human subjects and other mammals, each unit containing a predetermined quantity of active material calculated to produce the desired therapeutic effect, in association with a suitable pharmaceutical excipient. Preferably, the antisense oligonucleotide is employed at no more than about 20 weight percent of the ' pharmaceutical composition, more preferably no more than about 15 weight percent, with the balance being pharmaceutically inert carrier(s). The antisense oligonucleotide is effective over a wide dosage range and is generally administered in a pharmaceutically effective amount. It will be understood, however, that the amount of the antisense oligonucleotide actually administered will be determined by a physician, in the light of the relevant circumstances, including the condition to be treated, the chosen route of administration, the actual compound administered, the age, weight, and response of the individual patient, the severity of the patient's symptoms, and the like. For preparing solid compositions such as tablets, the principal active ingredient/antisense oligonucleotide is mixed with a pharmaceutical excipient to form a solid preformulation composition containing a homogeneous mixture of a compound of the present invention. When referring to these preformulation compositions as homogeneous, it is meant that the active ingredient is dispersed evenly throughout the composition so that the composition may be readily subdivided into equally effective unit dosage forms such as tablets>pills and capsules. This solid preformulation is then subdivided into unit dosage forms of the type described above containing from, for example, 0.1 to about 500 mg of the active ingredient of the present invention. The tablets or pills of the present invention may be coated or otherwise compounded to provide a dosage form affording the advantage of prolonged action. For example, the tablet or pill can comprise an inner dosage and an outer dosage component, the latter being in the form of an envelope over the former. The two components can be separated by an enteric layer which serves to resist disintegration in the stomach and permit the inner component to pass intact into the duodenum or to be delayed in release. A variety of materials can be used for such enteric layers or coatings, such materials including a number of polymeric acids and mixtures of polymeric acids with such materials as shellac, cetyl alcohol, and cellulose acetate. The liquid forms in which the novel compositions of the present invention may be incoφorated for administration orally or by injection include aqueous solutions, suitably flavoured syrups, aqueous or oil suspensions, and flavoured emulsions with edible oils such as corn oil, cottonseed oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, or peanut oil, as well as elixirs and similar pharmaceutical vehicles. Compositions for inhalation or insufflation include solutions and suspensions in pharmaceutically acceptable, aqueous or organic solvents, or mixtures thereof, and powders. The liquid or solid compositions may contain suitable pharmaceutically ' acceptable excipients as described supra. Preferably the compositions are administered by the oral or nasal respiratory route for local or systemic effect. Compositions in preferably pharmaceutically acceptable solvents may be nebulized by use of inert gases. Nebulized solutions may be inhaled directly from the nebulizing device or the nebulizing device may be attached to a face mask tent, or intermittent positive pressure breathing machine. Solution, suspension, or powder compositions may be administered, preferably orally or nasally, from devices which deliver the formulation in an appropriate manner. The following formulation examples illustrate representative pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention. Formulation Example 1 Hard gelatin capsules containing the following ingredients are prepared: Ingredient Quantity (mg/capsule) Active Ingredient 30.0 Starch 305.0 Magnesium stearate 5.0 The above ingredients are mixed and filled into hard gelatin capsules in 340 mg quantities. Formulation Example 2 A tablet formula is prepared using the ingredients below: Ingredient Quantity (mg/tablet) Active Ingredient 25.0 Cellulose, microcrystalline 200.0 Colloidal silicon dioxide 10.0 Stearic acid 5.0 The components are blended and compressed to form tablets, each weighing 240 mg. Formulation Example 3 A dry powder inhaler formulation is prepared containing the following components: Ingredient Weight % Active Ingredient 5 Lactose 95 The active ingredient is mixed with the lactose and the mixture is added to a dry powder inhaling appliance. Formulation Example 4 Tablets, each containing 3C I mg of active ingredient, are prepared as folio Ingredient Quantity (mg/tablet) Active Ingredient 30.0 mg Starch 45.0 mg Microcrystalline cellulose 35.0 mg Polyvinylpyrrolidone (as 10% solution in sterile water) 4.0 mg Sodium carboxymethyl starch 4.5 mg Magnesium stearate 0.5 mg Talc 1.0 mg Total 120 mg The active ingredient, starch and cellulose are passed through a No. 20 mesh U.S. sieve and mixed thoroughly. The solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone is mixed with the resultant powders, which are then passed through a 16 mesh U.S. sieve. The granules so produced are dried at 50 2 C to 60 2 C and passed through a 16 mesh U.S. sieve. The sodium carboxymethyl starch, magnesium stearate, and talc, previously passed through a No. 30 mesh U.S. sieve, are then added to the granules which, after mixing, are compressed on a tablet machine to yield tablets each weighing 120 mg. Formulation Example 5 Capsules, each containing 40 mg of medicament are made as follows: Ingredient Quantity (mg/capsule) Active Ingredient 40.0 mg Starch 109.0 mg Magnesium stearate 1.0 mg Total 150.0 mg The active ingredient, starch, and magnesium stearate are blended, passed through a No. 20 mesh U.S. sieve, and filled into hard gelatin capsules in 150 mg quantities. Formulation Example 6 Suppositories, each containing 25 mg of active ingredient are made as follows: Ingredient Amount Active Ingredient 25 mg Saturated fatty acid glycerides to 2,000 mg The active ingredient is passed through a No. 60 mesh U.S. sieve and suspended in the saturated fatty acid glycerides previously melted using the minimum heat necessary. The mixture is then poured into a suppository mold of nominal 2.0 g capacity and allowed to cool. Formulation Example 7 Suspensions, each containing 50 mg of medicament per 5.0 mL dose are made as follows: Ingredient Amount Active Ingredient 50.0 mg Xanthan gum 4.0 mg Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (11%) Microcrystalline cellulose (89%) 50.0 mg Sucrose 1.75 g Sodium benzoate 10.0 mg Flavor and Color q.v. Purified water to 5.0 mL 30 SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RUTE β) The active ingredient, sucrose and xanthan gum are blended, passed through a No. ϊ6" mesh U.S. sieve, and then mixed with a previously made solution of the microcrystalline cellulose and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose in water. The sodium benzoate, flavor, and color are diluted with some of the water and added with stirring. Sufficient water is then added to produce the required volume. Formulation Example 8 Ingredient Quantity (mg/capsule) Active Ingredient 15.0 mg Starch 407.0 mg Magnesium stearate 3.0 mg Total 425.0 mg The active ingredient, starch, and magnesium stearate are blended, passed through a No. 20 mesh U.S. sieve, and filled into hard gelatin capsules in 425.0 mg quantities. Formulation Example 9 A formulation may be prepared as follows: Ingredient Quantity Active Ingredient 5.0 mg Corn Oil 1.0 mL Formulation Example 10 A topical formulation may be prepared as follows: Ingredient Quantity Active Ingredient 1-10 g Emulsifying Wax 30 g Liquid Paraffin 20 g White Soft Paraffin to 100 g The white soft paraffin is heated until molten. The liquid paraffin and emulsifying wax are incoφorated and stirred until dissolved. The active ingredient is added and stirring is continued until dispersed. The mixture is then cooled until solid. Another preferred formulation employed in the methods of the present invention employs transdermal delivery devices ("patches"). Such transdermal patches may be used to provide continuous or discontinuous infusion of the antisense oligonucleotides of the present invention in controlled amounts. The construction and use of transdermal patches for the delivery of pharmaceutical agents is well known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Patent 5,023,252, herein incoφorated by reference. Such patches may be constructed tor continuous, pulsatile, or on demand delivery of pharmaceutical agents. Another preferred method of delivery involves "shotgun" delivery of the naked antisense oligonucleotides across the dermal layer. The delivery of "naked" antisense oligonucleotides is well known in the art. See, for example, Feigner et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,580,859. It is contemplated that the antisense oligonucleotides may be packaged in a lipid vesicle before "shotgun" delivery of the antisense oligonucleotide. Frequently, it will be desirable or necessary to introduce the pharmaceutical composition to the brain, either directly or indirectly. Direct techniques usually involve placement of a drug delivery catheter into the host's ventricular system to bypass the blood-brain barrier. One such implantable delivery system used for the transport of biological factors to specific anatomical regions of the body is described in U.S. Patent 5,011,472 which is herein incoφorated by reference. Indirect techniques, which are generally preferred, usually involve formulating the compositions to provide for drug latentiation by the conversion of hydrophilic drugs into lipid-soluble drugs. Latentiation is generally achieved through blocking of the hydroxy, carbonyl, sulfate, and primary amine groups present on the drug to render the drug more lipid soluble and amenable to transportation across the blood-brain barrier. Alternatively, the delivery of hydrophilic drugs may be enhanced by intra-arterial infusion of hypertonic solutions which can transiently open the blood-brain barrier. ' Other suitable formulations for use in the present invention can be found in Remington 's Pharmaceutical Sciences (1985). The antisense oligonucleotides or the pharmaceutical composition comprising the antisense oligonucleotides may be packaged into convenient kits providing the necessary materials packaged into suitable containers. Use of the Antisense Oligonucleotides of the Present Invention The antisense oligonucleotides of the present invention may be used for a variety of puφoses. The antisense compounds of the present invention can be utilised for diagnostics, therapeutics, prophylaxis and as research reagents and kits. For therapeutics, they may be used to inhibit the expression of the groEL or groES gene in a microorganism, resulting in the inhibition of growth of that microorganism in an animal, for example, a human. The animal is treated by administering antisense compounds m accordance with this invention. The compounds of the invention can be utilised in pharmaceutical compositions by adding an effective amount of an antisense compound to a suitable pharmaceutically acceptable diluent or carrier. Use of the antisense compounds and methods of the invention may also be useful prophylactically, e.g., to prevent or delay microbial infection. The antisense compounds of the invention are useful for research and diagnostics, because these compounds hybridise to nucleic acids encoding groES or groEL, enabling sandwich and other assays to easily be constructed to exploit this fact. Hybridisation of the antisense oligonucleotides of the invention with a nucleic acid encoding groES or groEL can be detected by means known in the art. Such means may include conjugation of an enzyme to the oligonucleotide, radiolabelling of the oligonucleotide or any other suitable detection means. As such, the antisense oligonucleotides of the present invention may also be used to determine the presence of a particular microorganism in a biological sample. Kits using such detection means for detecting the level of groES or groEL in a sample may also be prepared. Finally, the oligonucleotides may be used as molecular weight markers. In order to further illustrate the present invention and advantages thereof, the following specific examples are given but are not meant to limit the scope of the claims in any way. EXAMPLES In the examples below, all temperatures are in degrees Celsius (unless otherwise indicated) and all percentages are weight percentages (also unless otherwise indicated), and the following abbreviations have the following meanings. If an abbreviation is not defined, it has its generally accepted meaning. μM = micromolar mM = millimolar M molar ml millilitre μl = microlitre mg milligram μg microgram IPTG = isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside PAGE = polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis PVDF = polyvinylidene difluoride φm = revolutions per minute OD = optical density CFU = colony forming units ΔG = free energy, a measurement of oligonucleotide duplex stability kcal = kilocalories General Methods in Molecular Biology and Microbiology: Standard microbiological techniques (bacterial growth, titreing of bacterial suspension, etc..) known in the art and not specifically described were generally followed as in Lorian, Antibiotics in laboratory medicine. Williams & Wilkins, New York (1996); Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York (1989, 1992); Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore Maryland (1989); and Perbal, ^ Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning, John Wiley & Sons, New York (1988). The antisense oligonucleotides in Tables 1 - 8 were selected from the sequence complementary to the groEL or groES genes of various microorganisms such that the sequence exhibited the least likelihood of showing one or more of duplex formation, hair-pin formation, and homooligomer/sequence repeats but had a high to moderate potential to bind to the groEL or groES gene sequence. These properties were determined using the computer modelling program OLIGO ® Primer Analysis Software, Version 5.0 (distributed by National Biosciences, Inc. , Plymouth, MN). A worker skilled in the relevant art would readily appreciate that the antisense oligonucleotides of the present invention may be prepared by various methods known in the art. The phosphorothioate oligonucleotides can be synthesised by companies such as "Sigma Genosys, The Woodlands, Texas". Additionally, a worker skilled in the art would readily appreciate that nucleoside phosphoramidites for oligonucleotide synthesis can be prepared using standard procedures, for example, those outlined in U.S. Patent No. 6,140,126. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out generally as in PCR Protocols: A Guide To Methods And Applications, Academic Press, San Diego, CA (1990). EXAMPLE I Cloning and sequencing the groE operon from: Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Streptococcus pneumoniae ESP174 (Simor, A.E., et al., Antimicrob Agents Chemother. (1996) 40: 2190-3) and Streptococcus pyogenes RUH964, RUH969, RUH983 and RUH1001 (Blondeau, J.M., et al., Int J Antimicrob Agents (1999) 12: 67-70) were grown overnight at 37 °C in a 5 % CO 2 atmosphere on Columbia agar with 5 % sheep blood (PML Microbiologicals, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada). Escherichia coli C175-94 (Hvidberg, H., et al., Antimicrob Agents Chemother. (2000) 44: 156-63) and ATCC700336 (Johnson, J.R., et al., J Infect Dis. (1997) 175: 983-8); JM105 (New England Biolabs Inc., Mississauga, Canada); Staphylococcus aureus X3 3X& (Papakyriacou, H., et al., J Infect Dis. (2000) 181: 990-1000) and RN4220 (Kreiswirth, B.N., et al, Nature (1983) 305: 709-12); and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027 (Zhang, Y., and R.M. MiXXeτ. Appl Environ Microbiol. (1992) 58: 3276-82) were grown overnight at 37 e C on tryptic soy agar (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI, USA) plates. One or two colonies from each culture were resuspended in 250 μl of water and were heated for 10 min at 100 °C. Three to five μl from each bacterial suspension was then used to PCR amplify the groE operon from Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes , Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using primers listed in Table 9. In order to amplify the fragments containing the groE operon, the following conditions .were used; after an initial denaturation of target DNA at 95 2 C for 5 min, thermal cycling for each set of primers was 95 S C for 45 s, 52 C for 45 s, and 72 a C for 45 s for a total of 35 cycles. The final cycle included an extension for 5 min at 72 S C. Each 100 μl PCR mixture consisted of 30 pmol of each forward and reverse primer, 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1.5 mM MgC12, 50 mM KC1 (pH 8.3; 20 2 C), and 0.75 U of Taq DNA polymerase (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Baie d'Urfe, Canada). A deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate mix of dATP, dTTP, dGTP and dCTP (Gibco BRL, Life Technologies, Burlington, Canada) was used at a final concentration of 0.2 mM per reaction mixture. The final PCR products were purified using Quiaquick™ PCR purification kit (Qiagen, Mississauga, Canada) according to the manufacturer instructions. Purified PCR fragments were subjected to double-stranded DNA sequencing with both strands as template by the dideoxyoligonucleotide method of Sanger et al. (Sanger, F., et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci US A. (1997) 74: 5463-7) at the University of Maine's DNA sequencing facility. DNA sequence analysis was performed using Sequence Navigator software (Applied Biosystems, Inc., Foster City, Calif.), Multalign (Coφet, F., Nucleic Acids Res. (1988) 16: 10881-90) and the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) (Altschul, S.F., et al., JMol Biol. (1990) 215: 403-10) at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Results indicated that the genomic sequence of the groE operon is highly conserved (>90%) in each bacterial species; in ATCC strains, field isolates and antibiotic resistant strains. Furthermore, stretches of DNA sequences are conserved between the groE operon sequences of pathogens of different species, genus and families. EXAMPLE II Messenger RNA target inhibition using antisense oligonucleotides directed against groE operon mRNA RT-PCR is a semi-quantitative gene expression analysis technique that was used to detect in vitro mRNA target inhibition. Bacteria treated with anti-groE antisense oligonucleotides demonstrated a reduction of groE mRNA in comparison to untreated bacteria. Electrocompetent E. coli K12 were transformed with 200 μM of each phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide. Approximately 10 10 CFU/ml were electroporated using a Cell Porator (Gibco BRL, Burlington, Canada) in micro electro-chambers (0.4 cm between the electrodes) at a pulse of 2.4 kV, 4 kΩ. Control populations of bacteria were subjected to electroporation but without antisense oligonucleotides. Messenger RNA was immediately isolated using RNeasy MiniKit™ (Qiagen, Mississauga, Ontario) according to the ' manufacturer's instructions. One hundred and fifty ng of each of the purified total RNA were reverse transcribed into cDNA using the Ready-To-Go™ You-Prime First-Strand Beads (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Baie d'Urfe, Canada) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Thirty pmol of the primer secaRe (5'-CACCTTCTTTCGCTTCCAC-3' [SEQ ID NO:503]) for the mRNA of house keeping negative control and 30 pmol of the primer groeRe (5'- AGATTTTCTTGTCAGCCAGCA-3' [SEQ ID NO:504]) for the targeted groE operon mRNA were used for the reverse transcription. The following conditions were used to amplify the cDNA of the groE operon, or the secA house keeping gene; after an initial denaturation of target cDNA at 95 2 C for 5 min, thermal cycling for each set of primers was 95 S C for 45 s, 51 a C for 45 s, and 72 a C for 45 s for a total of 35 cycles. The final cycle included an extension for 5 min at 72 Q C. The 100 μl PCR mixtures consisted of 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1.5 mM MgCl 2 , 50 mM KC1 (pH 8.3; 20 2 C), and 0.75 U of Taq DNA polymerase (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Baie d'Urfe, Canada). Primers to amplify the secA cDNA (forward: 5'-GTTACCGTCAACGACTACC-3' [SEQ ID NO:505]and reverse: 5'-CACCTTCTTTCGCTTCCAC-3' [SEQ ID NO:506]) and the^roE cDNA (forward: 5'- GAGTTATCAATGAATATTCGTCC-3' [SEQ ID NO:507] and reverse: 5'- AGATTTTCTTGTCAGCCAGCA-3' [SEQ ID NO:508]) were each used at a final concentration of 30 pmol per reaction mixture. Final analysis was done by applying PCR products, 15 μl/well on agarose gels containing 1.5% (wt/vol) agarose (Gibco BRL) prepared and run in lx TAE buffer [lx TAE is 40 mM Tris-acetate [pH 8.0], 1 mM EDTA] and separated by electrophoresis. DNA in the gel was stained with ethidium bromide (5 μg/ml) and visualised and photographed under UV light. Figure 16 represents the electrophoretogram of mRNA obtained from E. coli bacteria treated with antisense oligonucleotides 357 and 338. In each case the antisense oligonucleotide treatment resulted in a decrease in mRNA. Results indicated that antisense oligonucleotides are specifically inhibiting the mRNA of the groE operon of E. coli. There is no reduction in expression of the mRNA copy number of the selected house keeping gene (secA) by antisense oligonucleotides targeting the mRNA of the groE operon of E. coli. EXAMPLE III In vitro antimicrobial effect on a Gram negative E. coli and a Gram positive, S. aureus of anti-groE antisense oligonucleotides E. coli (K12) or S. aureus (RN4220) were electroporated with either 80 μM or 40 μM of phosphorothioate or methylphosphonate antisense oligonucleotides. Approximately 10 10 CFU/ml were electroporated using a Cell Porator (Gibco BRL, Burlington, Canada) in micro electro-chambers (0.4 cm between the electrodes) at a pulse of 2.4 kV, 4 kΩ. Control populations were subjected to electroporation in the absence of antisense oligonucleotides. Equal numbers of the treated or untreated E. coli or S. aureus cells were then transferred to flasks containing fresh Luria-Bertani broth (Miller J. H. Experiments in Molecular Genetics, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1972)) and grown at 30 2 C on a shaker at 250 φm. The number of bacteria per flask was determined by the turbidity of the cultures at OD 620 measured each hour (Caφentier P.L., Microbiology 4 th ed. W.B. Saunders Company (1977)). Figures 17 to 21 show the rate growth of the E. coli following treatment with various phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotides. Figure 22 shows the rate of growth of E. coli following treatment with a methylphosphonate chimeric antisense oligonucleotide. Figures 23 to 32 show the growth rate of S. aureus following treatment with the various antisense oligonucleotides. The results indicated that antisense oligonucleotides targeting the mRNA of the groE operon of E. coli or S. aureus, significantly inhibit bacterial growth in a dose response effect and that this antimicrobial activity is not dependent on the structure of the backbone of the antisense oligonucleotide. EXAMPLE IV Protection of mice from septicemia using antisense oligonucleotides targeting the mRNA of the Escherichia coligroE operon Chimeric oligonucleotide 338M and phosphorothioate oligonucleotide 338 efficacy compared to a negative control were evaluated in vivo in an animal model of septicemia (Barekzi, N.A., et al., Antimicrob Agents Chemother. (1999) 43: 1609-15; Fridmodt- Møller, N., et al., In Handbook of animal models of infection. O. Zak and S.M. A., editors. Academic Press, London. (1999) 127-136; Zantl, N., et al., Infect Immun. (1998) 66: 2300- 9) in two independent experiments (see Figure 33A and B) 338M: 2'O e (CCG)p(AATTTTACGTCTTT) 2' OMe (AGC), where OMe represents methylphosphonates nucleotides and p represents a phosphodiester linkage oligonucleotide ' backbone. 338: all phosphorothioate linkage oligonucleotide backbone (5'- CCGAATTTTACGTCTTTAGC-3' [SEQ ID NO: 94]) Challenge Prior to bacterial challenge, mice were kept for at least 1 week in the animal facility to recover after shipment. All experimental procedures were performed according to the Animal Care Committee of the Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Science Centre. Female CD1 mice, 7 weeks old (Charles River, Wilmington, Mass.) were infected intraperitonealy with 500 μl of a bacterial suspension of 10 7 -10 8 CFU/ml of Escherichia coli (ATCC25922) resuspended in phosphate buffered saline pH 7.4. Treatment: Phosphorothioate and chimeric antisense molecules were resuspended in PBS (phosphate buffered saline) pH 7.4 at a concentration of 2.5 mg/ml. Two hundred μl of the test drug or saline (control group) were injected intraperitoneally at 1 and 3 hours post infection with antisense 338. In another independent experiment, 200 μl of the test drug or saline (control group) were injected intraperitoneally at 1 and 4 hours post infection with antisense 338M. Monitoring of the infection level: At various times postinfection (2 and 6 hours with phosphorothioate antisense 338 and 2 and 7 hours with chimeric phosphorothioate antisense 338M), 10 μl of mice blood was withdrawn from a cut in the lateral tail vein from three mice by group by time point. After the mice were euthanatized (via cervical dislocation) , a saline lavage of the peritoneal cavity was performed by using 2 ml of sterile saline, and lavage fluid (-0.5 ml) was collected. Blood and peritoneal lavage fluid were serially diluted and plated on tryptic soy agar plates (Difco Laboratories), and bacterial colonies were enumerated after 18 h of incubation at 37°C. Results indicate that antisense oligonucleotides with 2 different backbones targeting the mRNA of the groE operon of E. coli can significantly reduce the infectious load in vivo in the antisense treated group compared to the saline control group in a mice model of septicemia. A significant log 10 reduction in CFU/ml of ≥ 1.5 was achieved 6 hours after bacterial challenge in peritoneal fluid of mice treated with antisense phosphorothioate 338 targeting the mRNA of the groE operon of E. coli. In mice treated with methylphosphonate chimeric antisense oligonucleotide (338M) a greater loglO reduction in CFU/ml of ≥ 3 was achieved 7 hours after bacterial challenge in peritoneal fluid. Furthermore, in mice treated with methylphosphonate chimeric antisense oligonucleotide (338M) a significant loglO reduction in CFU/ml of ≥ 2.5 was achieved 7 hours after bacterial challenge in peripheral blood. In the experiment where mice were treated with antisense phosphorothioate 338, the level of septicemia in the peripheral blood of the control and treated mice groups was too low to be included in the results. The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Table 1: Antisense Oligonucleotides that target Escherichia coligroE operon Table 2: Antisense Oligonucleotides that target Streptococcus pneumoniae groE operon Table 3: Antisense Oligonucleotides that Target Streptococcus pyogenes groEL Table 4: Antisense Oligonucleotides that Target Staphylococcus aureus groE operon CO I m m 73 c m ro Table 6: Antisense oligonucleotides targeting the mRNA of the groE operon of S. pneumoniae that are conserved among microorganisms CO c ro CO m CO m m 7) c r m κ_> CO c ro CO m CO I m m 7 ) c m ro CO c ro CO H H C m CO I m m 7) c ι- m ro σ> Table 9: Primers used to PCR amplify the groE operon. PATHOGEN FRAGMENT 1 FRAGMENT 2 FRAGMENT 3 Primer Forward 5'-> 3' Reverse 5'→ 3' Forward 5'-→ 3' Reverse 5'- 3' Forward 5'- 3' Reverse 5'- 3' TCC TTA CTT GTT TAT TTC Escherichia TAA CAG ATA AGA TTT TCT CAT CAA CAA TGC GAG GTG coli, CGG ACT TTC TC TGT CAG CCA [SEQ ID NO:481] GCA [SEQ ID GCC [SEQ ID CA [SEQ ID NO:486] NO:491] NO:495] CAG ATG TTG TGT ACT GTG ACG TGG TAT CO TTA CAT CAT TTT GAC ATA c Streptococcus AAA CCA TTA AAA GGT AAC GGA AAC AGA GAT TTG GTC ro pneumoniae GGG [SEQ ID CAC [SEQ ID GC [SEQ ID CCC GCC CAT C TTG GAA GAG G CTT ACT TTC TCC [SEQ ID CO NO:482] NO:487] NO:492] [SEQ ID NO:496] [SEQ ID NO:499] NO:501] Streptococcus GAA GCT ATG CGT TCT TGT GTA ATT GTT CAT TAA AAG GAG CGT GTG G AGT TT TCA CGG GAA GGT TCA TCT GTA ACC m pyogenes [SEQ ID NO:483] [SEQ ED NO:488] GG [SEQ ID ACA [SEQ ID CO NO:493] NO:497] I m CAA TCA TGC GAA TCA GTA GGT ATG CAA m Staphylococcus TAA AAC CAA ACC ATA TAT TTT GAT CGT TTC CCG GCA aureus TTG G [SEQ ID GGT G [SEQ ID GGT [SEQ ID TGC CAC CCA NO:484] [SEQ ID NO-.498] NO:489] NO:494] c m ATG AAG CTT CGT TCT TGT AAA CAC CAC GCT TCG GTG ro Pseudomonas CTG AGT TTT TCA aeruginosa CGT CCT CGG [SEQ ID CAT CAT CGA TG GTG ATC ATC [SEQ ID NO:485] [SEQ ID NO:500] [SEQ ID NO:502] NO:490]

Claims: What is claimed is: An antisense compound 5 to 50 nucleobases in length targeted to a nucleic acid molecule encoding groEL or groES of a microorganism, wherein said antisense compound specifically hybridizes with and inhibits the expression of groES or groES. The antisense compound of claim 1 which is an antisense oligonucleotide. An antisense compound up to 50 nucleobases in length targeted to a nucleic acid molecule encoding groEL or groES comprising at least a 5 nucleobase portion of SEQ IDNO: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109 110,111,112,113,114,115,116, 117 118,119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 214, 215, 216,217, 218, 219, 220, 221 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309 310,311, 312,313, 314,315, 316, 317 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405406, 407, 408, 409, 410,411, 412, 413414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, or 480 and which inhibits expression of groEL or groES. 4. The antisense compound of claim 2 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified internucleoside linkage. 5. The antisense compound of claim 4 wherein the modified internucleoside linkage is a phosphorothioate linkage. 6. The antisense compound of claim 2 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified sugar moiety. 7. The antisense compound of claim 6 wherein the modified sugar moiety is a 2'-O- methoxyethyl sugar moiety. 8. The antisense compound of claim 2 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified nucleobase. 9. The antisense compound of claim 8 wherein the modified nucleobase is a 5- methylcytosine. 10. The antisense compound of claim 2 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide is a chimeric oligonucleotide. 11. A composition comprising the antisense compound of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or diluent. 12. The composition of claim 11 further comprising a colloidal dispersion system. 13. The composition of claim 11 wherein the antisense compound is an antisense oligonucleotide. 14. A method of inhibiting the expression of groEL or groES in cells or tissues in vitro comprising contacting said cells or tissues in vitro with the antisense compound of claim 1 so that expression of groEL or groES is inhibited. 15. The antisense compound of claim 3 which is an antisense oligonucleotide. 16. The antisense compound of claim 15 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified internucleoside linkage. 17. The antisense compound of claim 16 wherein the modified internucleoside linkage is a phosphorothioate linkage. 18. The antisense compound of claim 15 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified sugar moiety. 19. The antisense compound of claim 18 wherein the modified sugar moiety is a 2'-O- methoxyethyl sugar moiety. 20. The antisense compound of claim 15 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified nucleobase. 21. The antisense compound of claim 20 wherein the modified nucleobase is a 5- methylcytosine. 22. The antisense compound of claim 15 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide is a chimeric oligonucleotide. 23. A composition comprising the antisense compound of claim 3 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or diluent. ' 24. The composition of claim 23 further comprising a colloidal dispersion system. 25. The composition of claim 23 wherein the antisense compound is an antisense oligonucleotide. 26. A method of inhibiting the expression of groEL or groES in cells or tissues in vitro comprising contacting said cells or tissues in vitro with the antisense compound of claim 3 so that the groEL or groES is inhibited. 27. An antisense oligonucleotide comprising from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides, which nucleotides are complementary to the groEL or groES gene of a microorganism. 28. The oligonucleotide of Claim 1 further comprising one or more phosphorothioate internucleotide linkages. 29. An antisense oligonucleotide comprising from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides which is capable of binding to the groEL or groES gene of a microorganism, wherein the oligonucleotide comprises all or part of a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, ' 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, or 480. 30. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient and an effective amount of an oligonucleotide comprising from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides, which nucleotides are complementary to the groEL or groES gene of a microorganism. 31. The pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient and an effective amount of an oligonucleotide comprising from about 5 to about 50 nucleotides which is capable of binding to the groEL or groES gene of a microorganism, wherein the oligonucleotide comprises all or part of a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, or 480. 32. A method of inhibiting the expression of agroEL oτgroES gene in a microorganism having agroEL oτgroES gene, comprising administering to said microorganism or to a cell infected with said microorganism an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to the groEL oxgroES gene of the microorganism under conditions such that the expression of the groEL or groES gene is inhibited. 33. The method according to Claim 6, wherein said microorganism is a bacterial cell. 34. The method according to Claim 6, wherein said microorganism is a virus. 35. The method according to Claim 6 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 : 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 6869, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 7677, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109 110, 111, 112, 113,114,115 116,117,118,119,120,121,122, 123 124, 125 126, 127 128, 129, 130, 131 132, 133 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139 140, 141 142, 143 144, 145, 146, 147 148, 149 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155 156, 157 158, 159 160, 161, 162, 163 164, 165 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171 172, 173 174, 175 176, 177, 178, 179 180, 181 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 188, 189 190, 191 192, 193, 194, 195 196, 197 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203 204, 205 206, 207 208, 209, 210,211 212,213 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219220, 221 222, 223 224, 225, 226, 227228, 229230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235 236, 237 238, 239 240, 241, 242, 243 244, 245 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251 252, 253 254, 255 256, 257, 258, 259 260, 261 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267 268, 269 270, 271 272, 273, 274, 275 276, 277 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283 284, 285 286, 287 288, 289, 290, 291 292, 293 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299 300, 301 302, 303 304, 305, 306, 307308, 309310,311, 312, 313, 314, 315 316,317 318,319 320, 321, 322, 323 324, 325 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331 332, 333334, 335 336, 337, 338, 339340, 341 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347 348, 349 350, 351 352, 353, 354, 355 356, 357 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363 364, 365 366, 367 368, 369, 370, 371 372, 373 ; 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379 380, 381 382, 383 384, 385, 386, 387 388, 389 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395 396, 397 398, 399400, 401, 402, 403404, 405406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411 412, 413414, 415416,417, 418,419420, 421 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427 428, 429430, 431 432, 433, 434, 435436, 437438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443444, 445446, 447448, 449, 450, 451 452, 453454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459460, 461 462, 463464, 465, 466, 467468, 469470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475476, 477478, 479 or 480. 36. A method of inhibiting the growth of a microorganism having agroEL or groES gene, which method comprises identifying the microorganism and administering to said microorganism an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising from at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to either the groEL or groES gene of the microorganism under conditions whereby the growth of the microorganism is inhibited. 37. The method according to Claim 11, wherein said microorganism is a bacterial cell. 38. The method according to Claim 11, wherein said microorganism is a virus. 39. The method according to Claim 11 wherein the antisense oligonucleotide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, or 480. 40. A method for treating a mammalian pathologic condition mediated by microorganisms, which method comprises identifying a eukaryotic organsism having a pathologic condition mediated by microorganisms having agroEL or groES gene and administering to said organism an effective amount of an antisense oligonucleotide comprising at least about 5 nucleotides which are complementary to either the groEL or groES gene of the microorganism under conditions such that the growth of the microorganism is inhibited.

Inventors: DUGOURD DOMINIQUE, WRIGHT JIM A, YOUNG AIPING H, DUGOURD, DOMINIQUE, WRIGHT, JIM, A., YOUNG, AIPING, H.
Applicants: DUGOURD DOMINIQUE, GENESENSE TECHNOLOGIES INC, WRIGHT JIM A, YOUNG AIPING H, DUGOURD, DOMINIQUE, GENESENSE TECHNOLOGIES, INC., WRIGHT, JIM, A., YOUNG, AIPING, H.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: A61K38, A61P31, C12N15