Antibiotics and Their Mechanisms of Action

β-lactam antibiotics, side effects, and finally the mechanisms of resistance that have evolved against penicillin. No description of how its mechanism of action was deciphered is ever provided. This textbook describes how simple experiments using protoplasts, covalent affinity chromatography, SYPRO Orange binding assays, and X-ray crystallography have all been used to elucidate the mechanism of action of penicillin. Like this, the complicated mechanisms of action of different antibiotics have been presented in simple terms with the help of original illustrations. Chapters 8-10 cover the mechanisms of action of anti-ribosomal antibiotics (tetracycline, streptomycin, chloramphenicol). Elucidating the mechanisms of action for these antibiotics requires complex experiments such as ex vivo transcription via a cell-free ribosomal reaction mixture, photolabelling experiments, and sucrose density gradient centrifugation of radiolabelled translation reactants and products. These experiments are conveyed to the reader in the simplest possible language and with easily understandable, appealing illustrations. Finally, the reader is challenged at the end of every chapter with original questions, testing whether hecan apply the concepts he learned in the preceding chapter to research-level problems.