NMR in infection research

Abstract

In comparison to other research areas, antibacterial drug discovery provides many opportunities to employ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in the process of drug discovery. First of all, there are a large number of validated targets that can be cloned and expressed and their biological function is well understood. Most targets can be over-expressed readily and purified at quantities needed for NMR. Meanwhile, structural information is frequently available for at least one representative of a given target. Furthermore, enzyme substrates and corresponding inhibitors are often available and characterized. In combination, these factors make NMR studies for bacterial targets both feasible and economical in industrial research.