Mining bacterial genomes for antimicrobial targets

The elucidation of whole-genome sequences is expected to have a revolutiona ry impact on the discovery of novel medicines. With the availability of com plete genome sequences of more than 30 different species, the field of anti microbial drug discovery has the opportunity to access a remarkable diversi ty of genomic information. In this review, I summarize how microbial genomi cs has changed strategies of drug discovery by applying bioinformatics, nov el genetic approaches and genomics-based technologies, including analysis o f gene expression using DNA microarrays.