Question

First make a recommendation for which antibiotic is best to prescribe for each bacterium and which antibiotic could treat all bacteria?

• Bacillus subtilis:
• Escherichia coli:
• Salmonella enteritidis:
• Staphylococcus aureus:

Answer 1

Antibiotics against:

Bacillus subtilis: Vancomycin
(explanation: vancomycin stops the bacterial division and growth by by inhibiting the cell wall synthesis of the bacteria. The antibiotic does it by binding to the D-alanyl-D-alanine groups at the end of the peptide chains which cross links the strings of sugars.)

Escherichia coli: Gentamicin
(explanation: The antibiotic binds to the 30s subunit of the ribosome of the bacteria, which inhibits the protein synthesis.)

Salmonella enteritidis: Ampicillin
(explanation: Ampicillin inhibits the enzyme transpeptidase. Transpeptidase is important to bacteria for cell wall synthesis. During binary fission, it inhibits the final step of the cell wall synthesis. Ultimately it leads to cell lysis.)

Staphylococcus aureus: Cephalosporin
(explanation: Cephalosporin works by disrupting the peptidoglycan latyer which forms the bacterial cell wall. The working of cephalosporin is very similar to beta-lactam antibiotics.)

Amoxicillin is a broad range bacteria which works against various kinds of bacteria including these four.
Amoxicillin stops the growth of bacteria by preventing them to form cell walls.