title: Throwing a spanner in the works: antibiotics and the translation apparatus.
abstract: The protein synthetic machinery is essential to all living cells and is one of the major targets for antibiotics. Knowledge of the structure and function of the ribosome and its associated factors is key to understanding the mechanism of drug action. Conversely, drugs have been used as tools to probe the translation cycle, thus providing a means to further our understanding of the steps that lead to protein synthesis. Our current understanding as to how antibiotics disrupt this process is reviewed here, with particular emphasis on the prokaryotic elongation cycle and those drugs that interact with ribosomal RNAs.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institut für Molekulare Genetik, AG Ribosomen, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Spahn
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Prescott
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000187:drug effects; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases