What is the difference between streptomycin and penicillin

Oxford Academic. Google Scholar. Revision received:. Select Format Select format. Permissions Icon Permissions. Abstract The action of penicillin in combination with gentamicin against enterococci was studied.

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This article is also available for rental through DeepDyve. While vancomycin is similar to cefotaxime in that it has low toxicity in plants, it differs because it is effective against gram-positive organisms rather than gram-negative.

Bottom line: Cefotaxime and vancomycin are both use in plant tissue cultures. However, cefotaxime is effective in eliminating gram-negative bacteria and vancomycin is effective in eliminating gram-positive bacteria.

Gentamicin, streptomycin and spectinomycin are aminoglycoside antibiotics that function by binding ribosomal subunits and inhibiting protein synthesis. This leads to formation of an improperly functioning bacterial cell membrane. In research, gentamicin is typically used to prevent contamination of sterile cultures because it has a broad spectrum of activity and has high stability when placed under high heat during autoclaving.

Gentamicin is also used to treat mycobacterial contamination in cell culture. Streptomycin is also used similarly to gentamicin in cell culture. Both are water soluble and inhibit the 30s ribosomal subunit. However, gentamicin is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, while streptomycin is effective against gram-negative bacteria with only some activity against gram-positive activity. Gentamicin is typically used in lesser concentrations than streptomycin.

When combined with penicillin, a beta-lactam antibiotic, the streptomycin-penicillin combination is an effective inhibitor of bacterial infection in cell culture. Spectinomycin is an aminocyclitol aminoglycoside antibiotic, which means it is composed of a carbon ring and amine functional groups.

Resistance to spectinomycin is conferred in one of two ways: The first way is through an rpsE mutation that prevents the antibiotic from binding the ribosomal subunit. Spectinomycin is used for selection experiments for plants containing the Spcr gene as well as for experiments involving the inhibition of protein synthesis.

One example would be an experiment involving the inhibition of natural ribosome activity when orthogonal ribosomes are present. Bottom line: When compared to streptomycin combined with penicillin, gentamicin is still much more stable at low pH and more effective in controlling bacterial growth in tissue culture.

Spectinomycin can also be substituted for streptomycin in some cases, and provides more stability, but when increased stability is not required, streptomycin should be used since it is much more cost effective. G, hygromycin, kanamycin and neomycin are all members of the aminoglycoside antibiotic class.

They are typically effective in elimination of aerobic gram-negative organisms through inhibition of protein synthesis. G inhibits protein synthesis in bacteria, fungi and a variety of other susceptible organisms such as protozoans, and some plant and mammalian cells.

It functions by inhibiting the 80s ribosomal subunit and blocking synthesis of proteins. G is considered the standard antibiotic used for eukaryotic selection experiments. Resistance to this antibiotic is conferred through neomycin resistance genes. Neomycin targets prokaryotic cells that do not express the neomycin resistance aminoglycoside phosphotransferase genes.

These genes are typically used by molecular biologists in DNA plasmids in order to express cloned proteins in cell cultures because the neo genes are selectable markers. Neomycin and G both will target cells which do not contain these genes and they will be eliminated. In general, neomycin is used in experiments on prokaryotic cells, while G is used in eukaryotic experiments. Kanamycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that functions by inhibiting translocation of the ribosome which leads to mistranslation.

It is typically used to isolate bacteria that have been transformed with plasmids containing genes for kanamycin resistance. Resistance to this antimicrobial is through the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase enzyme KanR-Tn5, which inhibits its association with the bacterial ribosomes. Hygromycin also inhibits protein synthesis in a variety of organisms including bacteria and fungi.

The function of hygromycin varies slightly from G because hygromycin interferes with translocation causing mistranslation of the 80s ribosomal subunit, thus inhibiting protein synthesis. This difference in mechanism of action from G makes hygromycin most useful in dual-selection experiments where another selection antibiotic is also used. When antibiotics have different mechanisms of action, resistance is conferred in different methods making a subsequent selection process possible.

Bottom line: Use G for single-selection experiments on eukaryotic cells. Use neomycin or kanamycin for single-selection experiments on prokaryotic cells where you are selecting for neomycin resistance genes.

Kanamycin should be used over neomycin if elimination of Mycoplasma species from culture is necessary. Hygromycin can be used for dual-selection experiments and in selecting for hygromycin resistance genes on both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Puromycin is an aminonucleoside antibiotic that inhibits peptidyl transfer in ribosomes and also causes premature chain termination.

This leads to inhibition of protein synthesis. This antibiotic is toxic against both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Resistance is conferred through the pac gene, which encodes puromycin N-acetyl-transferase. Puromycin should be used to select for cell lines carrying the pac resistance gene, but can also be used for some E. Bottom line: Puromycin should be used to select for yeast and bacteria, especially E.

Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic which reversibly binds to the 50s ribosomal subunit leading to inhibition of protein synthesis in susceptible bacteria. Find articles by Dagmar Chudobova. Find articles by Simona Dostalova. Find articles by Iva Blazkova. Find articles by Petr Michalek. Find articles by Branislav Ruttkay-Nedecky. Find articles by Matej Sklenar. Find articles by Lukas Nejdl. Find articles by Jiri Kudr.

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Abstract There is an arising and concerning issue in the field of bacterial resistance, which is confirmed by the number of deaths associated with drug-resistant bacterial infections. Keywords: S. Introduction The seriousness of the problem of bacterial resistance is confirmed by the number of deaths associated with drug-resistant bacterial infections—only in the EU it affects 25, people a year [ 1 ].

Experimental Section 2. Cultivation of S. Preparation of Resistant Strains of S. Determination of Growth Curves The procedure for the evaluation of the antimicrobial effect of tested compounds and their combinations consisted in measuring of the absorbance using the apparatus Multiskan EX Thermo Fisher Scientific, Bremen, Germany and subsequent analysis in the form of growth curves. Results and Discussion In the last decade, the number of infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, resistant to formerly effective antibiotics, has increased significantly around the World.

Characterization on the Cellular Level The testing was performed using bacterial culture S. Morphological Characterization Significant morphological changes were observed in the cells in terms of cell shapes.

Open in a separate window. Figure 1. Determination of Antimicrobial Activity The mechanism of metal toxicity in the cell is determined by the interaction of the specific metals with a specific biological species [ 32 ]. Figure 2. Figure 3. Antibiotics S. Characterization on the Molecular Level The resistance to metal ions in S. Figure 4. Figure 5. Conclusions The reported experiments were performed to study the effects of antibiotic drugs ampicillin, streptomycin, penicillin and tetracycline on non-resistant strains of S.

Authors Contributions Dagmar Chudobova cultivated strains resistant to heavy metal ions with antibiotics and prepared samples for other analysis. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. References 1. Levy S. Antibacterial resistance worldwide: Causes, challenges and responses. Zhou F. Characteristics of antibiotic resistance of airborne Staphylococcus isolated from metro stations.

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