Peptide deformylase (PDF) is essential and unique to bacteria, thus making it an attractive target for the discovery of novel antibacterial drugs. PDF deformylates the N-formylmethionine of newly synthesized polypeptides in prokaryotes. In this study, a pdf gene from Staphylococcus aureus 6538p was cloned in pET-14b vector and PDF protein was over-produced in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). NH$_2$-terminal His-tagged PDF protein was purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) metal-affinity chromatography. Enzymatic activity of purified 6xHis-tagged PDF was tested on the substrate (formyl-Methionine-Alanine-Serine) by formate dehydrogenase-coupled spectrometric assay of peptide deformylase. For the discovery of new PDF inhibitors from chemical libraries and culture broths of soil bacteria, a target-oriented screening system using a 96-well plate was developed. About 3,000 commercial chemical libraries were tested in this screening system, and 2 chemicals (0.07％) among them showed an inhibitory activity against PDF enzyme. This result showed that a new screening system can be used for the discovery of new PDF inhibitors.