Patent ID: 7888005

Claim:
A method for identifying a gram-negative or gram-positive bacterial-inhibiting agent that selectively interrupts assembly of a predetermined biological process, comprising: (a) contacting a genetically engineered host cell with the bacterial-inhibiting agent for a predetermined amount of time, wherein the host cell contains a bacterial DNA sequence encoding a protein of the predetermined biological process operatively associated with a regulatory DNA sequence that controls expression of said protein, so that the protein is stably expressed by the host cell; (b) measuring growth of the host cell of (a); (c) contacting a genetically engineered host cell with the bacteria-inhibiting agent for a predetermined amount of time, wherein the host cell contains multiple copies of the bacterial DNA sequence encoding the same protein of the predetermined biological process disclosed in (a) operatively associated with a regulatory DNA sequence that controls expression of said protein, so that the protein are stably expressed by the host cell; (d) measuring growth of the host cell of (c); (e) comparing the growth of the host cell of (a) with the growth of the host cell of (c); and (f) identifying the bacterial-inhibiting agent that inhibits the growth of the host cell of (a) and does not inhibit the growth of the host cell of (c); wherein the protein of the predetermined biological process is selected from the group consisting of: N-formylmethionyl-tRNA deformylase, ribosome-binding factor A, translation elongation factor Ts, translation initiation factor IF3, tRNA-(guanine-N1) methyltransferase, transcription elongation factor, ATPase involved in DNA replication initiation, DNA primase, DNA-dependent DNA polymerase III alpha chain, excinuclease ATPase subunit, helicase subunit of the DNA excision repair complex, helicase subunit of the Holliday junction resolvase (RuvB), Holliday junction DNA helicase subunit, NAD-dependent DNA ligase (BRCT domain type II), nuclease subunit of the excinuclease complex, ribonuclease P protein component, replicative DNA helicase, FKBP-type peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (trigger factor), tmRNA-binding protein SmpB, predicted S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase involved in cell envelope biogenesis, prolipoprotein diacylglyceryltransferase, lipoprotein signal peptidase, preprotein translocase subunit SecA (ATPase, RNA helicase), preprotein translocase subunit SecE, ABC-type (unclassified) transport system, ATPase component, predicted methyltransferases, and uncharacterized BCR (putative metal-binding protein).