Integrated pathway-genome databases and their role in drug discovery

Integrated pathway-genome databases describe the genes and genome of an organism, as well as its predicted pathways, reactions, enzymes and metabolites. In conjunction with visualization and analysis software, these databases provide a framework for improved understanding of microbial physiology and for antimicrobial drug discovery. We describe pathway-based analyses of the genomes of a number of medically relevant microorganisms and a novel software tool that visualizes gene-expression data on a diagram showing the whole metabolic network of the microorganism.