The increasing frequency of nosocomial infections due to multi-resistant pathogens exerts a significant toll and calls
for novel and better antibiotics. Different approaches can be used in the search for novel antibiotics acting on drugresistant
bacterial pathogens. We present some considerations on valid bacterial targets to be used for searching new
antibiotics, and how the information from bacterial genome sequences can assist in choosing the appropriate targets.
Other factors to be considered in target selection are the chemical diversity available for screening and its uniqueness.
We will conclude discussing our strategy for searching novel antibacterials. This is based on a large collection of
microbial extracts as a source of chemical diversity and on the use of specific targets essential for the viability of
bacterial pathogens. Two assay strategies have been implemented: a pathway-based assay, where a series of essential
bacterial targets is screened in a single assay; and a binding assay, where many targets can be screened individually in
the same format