Compound MOA specificity of the fatty acid biosynthesis-specific reporter assay. Antibiotic compounds with diverse MOAs were tested for induction of luminescence in Bacillus subtilis 168 carrying the reporter plasmid pNS2. This plasmid carries the upstream region of the gene yhfB (=fabHB), including the identified FAS-specific transcription-factor-binding site (see text). Whereas known FAS inhibitors such as triclosan and cerulenin cause reporter induction, antibiotics with a different MOA do not induce the reporter, corroborating the pathway specificity of the assay system at hand. Note that the 10 μM concentration of triclosan lies above the MIC for this compound, indicating that the reduced signal at this concentration is caused by a reduced number of viable cells.
