L
OS ANGELES--Protein Pathways received a $100,000 SBIR phase I grant from the US National Institutes of Health to assign functions, using computational methods, to more than 1,500 genes from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome. Of the nearly 4,000 genes in the completely sequenced TB genome, greater than 40 percent have no associated functional information or sequence homology to proteins of known function. The company's functional analyses will identify genes essential for viability or virulence as antibiotic targets. The methods will provide rational targets in new antibiotic classes, as well as supplement currently targeted pathways. Information contained in fully sequenced prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes offers the opportunity to develop novel anti-infective agents.
