Target specificity of the new fluoroquinolone besifloxacin in Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli

Abstract

Although mutant selection experiments indicated that gyrase is a primary target, further biochemical and genetic studies showed that besifloxacin has potent, relatively balanced activity against both essential DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV targets in S. aureus and S. pneumoniae.