Prioritizing genomic drug targets in pathogens: application to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

ABSTRACT: We have developed a software program that weights and integrates specific properties on the genes in a pathogen so that they may be ranked as drug targets. We applied this software to produce three prioritized drug target lists for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, a disease for which a new drug is desperately needed. Each list is based on an individual criterion. The first list prioritizes metabolic drug targets by the uniqueness of their roles in the M. tuberculosis metabolome ("metabolic chokepoints") and their similarity to known "druggable" protein classes (i.e., classes whose activity has previously been shown to be modulated by binding a small molecule). The second list prioritizes targets that would specifically impair M. tuberculosis, by weighting he

SUBMITTER: Hasan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1475714 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature