Structural genomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - a step on the way to new therapies against tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis represents a global health threat of escalating proportions, in particular due to the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains. Furthermore, little is known about the mechanisms applied by Mycobacterium tuberculosis to enter a dormant state, thus resisting to the immune defense system over long periods of time, and to reactivate itself. Identification of genes that are essential for virulence and survival of the pathogen, analysis of the three-dimensional structure of proteins encoded by these genes and studies of interactions with ligands may provide an important basis for possible directed development of new chemotherapeutic agents. Such a structural genomics approach has been followed by several groups and up to now have investigated about 200 target proteins.