Question

In: Biology

Erythromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, by binding in front of the A...

Erythromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, by binding in front of the A site on the 50S subunit of a ribosome.

Why is Erythromycin effective against bacterial infections while causing minimal side effects on human cells?

Group of answer choices

1Bacterial ribosomes are 80S; cytoplasmic ribosomes in eukaryotes are 70S (so the drug will only target the bacterial ribosome)

2.Bacterial ribosomes are 70S; cytoplasmic ribosomes in eukaryotes are 80S (so the drug will only target the bacterial ribosome)

3.Erythromycin targets both bacterial and human cell structures

4.Human cells do not have cell walls

Which of the following processes is directly inhibited by this drug?

Group of answer choices

replication

translation

transcription

horizontal gene transfer

Solutions

Expert Solution

According to the question, Erythromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, by binding in front of the A site on the 50S subunit of a ribosome.

1) It is given that Erythromycin acts only by binding with the 50S subunit. The prokaryotic ribosome has a 70S ribosome that consists of 50S and 30S subunit whereas the eukaryotic ribosome has an 80S ribosome that consists of 60S and 40S subunit The erythromycin binds only to the 50S subunit which is present only in the prokaryotes so it does not affect the eukaryotic system that means to the bacteria and not to the human cell.

It halts the translation process in which the Erythromycin binds to the 50S subunit and prevents the movement along mRNA that affects the protein synthesis of bacteria. Thus, it will kill bacteria by producing a mutated protein or not producing the essential proteins at all.

Answer: 2) Bacterial ribosomes are the 70S; cytoplasmic ribosomes in eukaryotes are 80S (so the drug will only target the bacterial ribosome)

2) Erythromycin is produced by Streptomyces erythreus. It inhibits bacterial protein synthesis that is the translation process in which it binds to bacterial 50S ribosomal subunits and the binding inhibits the activity of peptidyl transferase. thus, it interferes with the translocation of the mRNA during the translation process.

Answer: translation


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