Thirteen quinolone antibacterial agents were investigated as to their ability to inhibit Micrococcus luteus DNA gyrase and cell growth, and compared to those of novobiocin and coumermycin. Among the quinolones tested, the most active were found to be CI-934 and ciprofloxacin, which inhibited gyrase full supercoiling activity at concentrations of 100 and 200 micrograms/ml, respectively, while inhibiting cell growth at a concentration of 1 microgram/ml. However, both novobiocin and coumermycin inhibited gyrase full supercoiling activity at concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0 microgram/ml, respectively, which were comparable to those concentrations causing inhibition of cell growth.