Inhibition of bacterial growth by peptide-conjugated morpholino oligomers

Abstract

Morpholino oligomers (MOs) are antisense molecules designed for sequence-specific binding of target mRNA. In bacteria, inhibition is hypothesized to occur by preventing translation initiation. Cell-penetrating peptides may be conjugated to the 5′- or 3′-termini of an MO to enhance cellular entry and therefore inhibition. Here we describe the three standard microbiological assays to assess in vitro antibacterial MO efficacy.