Patent ID: 7566550

Claim:
A method for screening a test compound as a candidate for preventing Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M. tuberculosis ) from entering the dormant stage in its life cycle, the method comprising: a) providing a system, the system comprising a first and second member of a two-component signaling system, said members being individually expressed in E. coli , the first component being selected from the group consisting of a peptide comprising a catalytically active DevS domain and a catalytically active Rv2027c domain, and the second component comprising a catalytically active DevR domain, b) providing a stimulus to promote autophosphorylation of the first component both in the presence and absence of the test compound, and c) determining a difference in the relative levels of phosphorylation of the first component or relative levels of phosphorylation of the second component in the absence and presence of the test compound, wherein a difference between the levels of the phosphorylation of the phosphorylated first or phosphorylated second component in the presence of the test compound and the levels of the phosphorylation of the phosphorylated first or phosphorylated second component in the absence of the test compound, respectively, indicates that the test compound is a candidate for preventing M. tuberculosis from entering the dormant stage of the lifecycle.