Validation of FRET Assay for the Screening of Growth Inhibitors of Escherichia coli Reveals Elongasome Assembly Dynamics.

ABSTRACT: The increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria demands the development of new antibiotics against preferably new targets. The common approach is to test compounds for their ability to kill bacteria or to design molecules that inhibit essential protein activities in vitro. In the first case, the mode of action of the drug is unknown and in the second case, it is not known whether the compound will pass the impermeable barrier of the bacterial envelope. We developed an assay that detects the target of a compound, as well as its ability to pass the membrane(s) simultaneously. The Escherichia coli cytoskeletal protein MreB recruits protein complexes (elongasomes) that are essential for cell envelope growth. An in cell Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) assay was developed to detect the in

SUBMITTER: van der Ploeg R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4581212 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature