Antisense oligomers directed to bacterial
cell division and
cell cycle-encoding nucleic acids are capable of selectively modulating the
biological activity thereof, and are useful in treatment and prevention of bacterial infection. The antisense oligomers are substantially uncharged, and contain from 8 to 40
nucleotide subunits, including a targeting
nucleic acid sequence at least 10 nucleotides in length which is effective to hybridize to (i) a bacterial tRNA or (ii) a target sequence, containing a translational
start codon, within a
bacterial nucleic acid which encodes a
protein associated with
cell division or the
cell cycle. Such proteins include zipA, sulA, secA, dicA, dicB, dicC, dicF, ftsA, ftsI, ftsN, ftsK, ftsL, ftsQ, ftsW,
ftsZ, murC, murD, murE, murF, murG, minC, minD, minE, mraY, mraW, mraZ, seqA, ddlB,
carbamate kinase, D-ala D-ala ligase,
topoisomerase,
alkyl hydroperoxide
reductase,
thioredoxin reductase,
dihydrofolate reductase, and
cell wall enzyme.