A crisis is developing in the treatment of infectious diseases, with microorganisms frequently showing resistance to currently prescribed antibiotics. Fewer and fewer antimicrobial agents are now available to treat these infections. In ¿New Antibiotic Targets,¿ W. Scott Champney examines specific techniques which can be used to explore new drug targets and the effectiveness of new antibiotics. By testing new antimicrobial agents and modified existing drugs, the most vulnerable cell processes, such as cell wall and membrane synthesis, DNA replication, RNA transcription and protein synthesis, can be better exploited. This in-depth volume, however, delves even deeper by identifying additional novel cellular targets for these new therapies.
¿New Antibiotic Targets¿ provides laboratory investigators with the vital tools they need to test the antimicrobial potential of products and to curb the rise of so many infectious diseases.

Biocomputational Strategies for Microbial Drug Target Identification.- Methods to Assay Inhibitors of DNA Gyrase and Topoisomerase IV Activities.- A Method to Assay Inhibitors of DNA Polymerase IIIC Activity.- Methods to Identify and Characterize Inhibitors of Bacterial RNA Polymerase.- Methods to Assay Inhibitors of tRNA Synthetase Activity.- Three Methods to Assay Inhibitors of Ribosomal Subunit Assembly.- Inhibition ofChaperone-Dependent Bacterial Ribosome Biogenesis.- Assays for the Identification of Inhibitors Targeting Specific Translational Steps.- SPARK: A New Peptidyl Transferase Activity Assay.- High-Throughput Screening of Peptide Deformylase Inhibitors.- A Method to Assay Penicillin-Binding Proteins.- A Method to Assay Inhibitors of Lipopolysaccharide Synthesis.- Methods for Assessing the Structure and Function of Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides.- Flow Cytometry of Bacterial Membrane Potential and Permeability.- Bacterial Efflux Pump Inhibitors.- Mycobacterium tuberculosis ?-Ketoacyl Acyl Carrier Protein Synthase III (mtFabH) Assay: Principles and Method.- Screening for Compounds That Affect the Interaction Between Bacterial Two-Component Signal Transduction Response Regulator Protein and Cognate Promoter DNA.- The Activity of rRNA Resistance Methyltransferases Assessed by MALDI Mass Spectrometry.- Assays for ?-Lactamase Activity and Inhibition.- Studies of Enzymes That Cause Resistance to Aminoglycosides Antibiotics.