Target-Based Antimicrobial Drug Discovery - Bacterial Pathogenesis: Methods and Protocols - page 264

inhibited by the venerable agents of old. Is it perhaps true that these really are
the most conducive to antimicrobial drug discovery and that efforts should focus
on novel methods rather than novel targets? An interesting endeavor recently
reported utilizes defining essentiality by chemical inhibition, thus identifying
target and inhibitor simultaneously (46,47) . Perhaps this approach will yield a
next cohort of antimicrobials. However, as noted earlier, natural products have
been the most fruitful source of inhibitors, and many of these were identified
by good old bacterial death (11,48) . It remains to be seen how the fruits of
genomics can be combined with lessons learned over the last 60 years to
supplement our antimicrobial arsenal.

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