Patent ID: 7790694

Claim:
An antibacterial antisense conjugate for use in treating a bacterial infection in a mammalian host, comprising (a) a substantially uncharged antisense oligonucleotide composed of morpholino subunits and phosphorus-containing intersubunit linkages joining a morpholino nitrogen of one subunit to a 5′ exocyclic carbon of an adjacent subunit, having between 10-20 bases and a targeting sequence of at least 10 contiguous bases complementary to a target region of the infecting bacteria's mRNA for acyl carrier protein (acpP), where the target region contains the translational start codon of the bacterial mRNA, or a sequence that is within 20 bases, in a downstream direction, of the translational start codon, and where the oligonucleotide binds to the mRNA to form a heteroduplex having a T m of at least 50° C., thereby to inhibit replication of the bacteria, and (b) conjugated to the oligonucleotide, a carrier peptide that is (i) represented by the sequence (RFF) n R- or the sequence (RXX) n -, where X is an uncharged amino acid selected from the group consisting of alanine, β-alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine, phenyalanine, and tryptophan, and n=2 or 3, and (ii) coupled to the oligonucleotide at the peptide's C terminus.