Abstract: Aspects of the invention relate to a method for inhibiting the growth of a microbe that expresses bacterial vitamin K epoxide reductase (bVKOR). The method involves contacting the bacterial cell with an effective amount of an agent that inhibits bVKOR. Agents include a drug, ligand or portion thereof, protein, polypeptide, small organic molecule, antisense nucleic acid, RNAi, or antibody. Examples of useful agents are a phenylpropanoid, a modified phenylpropanoid, a coumarin or modified coumarin. A particularly useful agents is warfarin or a variant thereof or ferulenol or a variant thereof. The microbe is any microbe carrying a bVKOR gene, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis.