MUTANTS OF THE MYCOBACTERIUM SPECIES AND THE USE THEREOF FORSCREENING FOR ANTIBIOTIC VECTORS

摘要

The invention relates to novel mutants of the Mycobacterium species and to their use for screening for potential antibiotics vectors. The novel inventive mutants are characterised in that genes which code the components of the siderophor iron absorption system are deactivated. These genes are deactivated either a) by mutagenesis using chemical or physical mutagens, b) by gene replacement, i.e. exchanging the whole gene or parts of thereof for a marker gene, c) by deletion- or insertion deactivation or d) by a combination of the aforementioned methods. The resulting mutants form the basis for screening for siderophors which are transported into the mycobacteria cell independently of the exochelin/mycobactin transportation system and which therefore represent potential antibiotics vectors.