Popular Antibiotics

5-Fluoroorotic Acid (5-FOA) is widely used in the field of yeast molecular genetics. The toxicity of 5-FOA to yeast cells with a functioning URA3 gene which encodes orotidine-5′-P decarboxylase (OMP decarboxylase), makes it especially useful for the selection and identification of mutant yeast strains. 5-FOA is most often applied with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (URA3), although it has been used in other strains including Schizosaccharomyces pombe (URA4 and URA5), Candida albicans (URA3) and the bacterium E. coli (pyrF). The use of 5-FOA in the yeast 2-hybrid system allows for the construction of activation domain hybrid libraries to identify protein-protein interactions.

Ampicillin sodium is a member of the extended-spectrum β-lactam family and similar in structure to penicillin. It is used in the selection of antibiotic cell hybrids and has a high rate of action against many gram-negative bacterial strains. Ampicillin sodium targets non-ESBL (Extended Spectrum β-lactamase) bacteria including Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species and medically important enteric pathogens such as Shigella and Salmonella. It has been found to be effective against certain β-lactam sensitive VRE or vancomycin resistant Enterococcus species. Resistance to ampicillin is routinely utilized as a selectable marker to confirm successful cell transformation. Ampicillin Sodium is freely soluble in water.

Carbenicillin is a member of the penicillin β-lactam antibiotics. However, unlike most β-lactams, carbenicillin disodium is limited to primarily gram-negative bacteria including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and common enteric species. It can be used in selection protocols and is often preferred over ampicillin due to its increased stability. This allows for less contamination of unwanted bacterial colonies. In addition, carbenicillin has been used to regulate bacterial growth in plants, yielding low regeneration frequencies. It can be used in genetic transformation applications to select for AmpR transformed cells.

Cefotaxime is a third generation, broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic effective against various gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. However, unlike many other cephalosporins, cefotaxime is not effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. Cefotaxime is often used in Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformations to regulate bacterial growth. It has been shown to exhibit a synergistic effect with Vancomycin in certain conditions.

Chloramphenicol, also known as chlornitromycin, is a broad-spectrum, bacteriostatic antibiotic derived from Streptomyces venezuelae. It is effective against several gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and commonly used in researching protein synthesis and to select for chloramphenicol-resistant transformed cells or the bacterial CAT gene.

G-418 sulfate, also known as geneticin, is an aminoglycoside antibiotic similar in structure to gentamicin B1. It is commonly used in plant and mammalian cell culture as a selectable marker. It can be used to select for cells transformed with an iNOS promoter construct or neomycin resistance gene.

G-418 functions by causing a chain of nonsense mutations during translation, ultimately resulting in inhibition of polypeptide synthesis and protein elongation. Resistance to G-418 is conferred through the nptll gene in plant cells and the neo gene in mammalian cells, which encode aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase. For gene selection applications, a kill curve can be made to determine the minimum effective G418 concentration to kill non-resistant cells. G418 disulfate is freely soluble in water.

Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside, broad-spectrum antibiotic that effectively inhibits Gram-negative and Gram-positive cell growth. Gentamicin's mode of action is to bind to the 30S ribosomal subunit and interfere with protein synthesis.

It is commonly used in clinical in vitro microbiological antimicrobial susceptibility tests (panels, discs, and MIC strips) against gram-positive and gram-negative microbial isolates. Medical microbiologists use AST results to recommend antibiotic treatment options for infected patients.

Hygromycin B is an aminoglycoside antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces hygroscopicus. It is commonly used to study protein synthesis. Aside from its efficacy against bacteria, fungi, and higher eukaryotic cells, hygromycin B is also an antiviral agent inhibiting translation upon selectively entering cells made permeable due to viral infection. It works as a standard selection antibiotic in gene experiments, especially for selection of hygromycin resistance gene transformed cells.

Kanamycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces kanamyceticus. It is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as Mycoplasma species. Kanamycin is commonly used to select for bacteria that have been transformed with a kanamycin-resistant gene and plant tissues that have the NPT II (APH3) gene incorporated in them. Kanamycin is very soluble in aqueous solution and is typically used in concentrations of 50-100 µg/ml.

Spectinomycin is an aminocyclitol antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces spectabilis. It is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, but most commonly used against Gonococcus species. It has also been used to monitor cell fate during leaf development and as a selection marker in plants to display successful transformation of the Spcr gene.

Spectinomycin functions by binding the 30s ribosomal subunit, inhibiting tRNA translation and protein synthesis. Resistance to this antibiotic is conferred through the aadA gene and mutated rpsE gene.

Streptomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic primarily effective against gram-negative bacteria and Mycobacterium species. It is commonly used in cell culture media to prevent bacterial contamination. It has also been used to precipitate nucleic acids during protein purification techniques and to study mechanisms of Streptomycin resistance.

Timentin™ is a 15:1 mixture of ticarcillin and clavulanate. Ticarcillin is a penicillin ß-lactam antibiotic, which is susceptible to ß-lactamase degradation. When combined with clavulanate, a ß-lactamase inhibitor, its efficacy is greatly increased. Timentin™ exhibits high activity against gram-negative bacteria and resistant Agrobacterium species.

Vancomycin hydrochloride is a member of the glycopeptide antibiotic class derived from Streptomyces orientalis. It is effective against gram-positive bacteria and used in studies of antibiotic resistance bacteria and nanoparticle transport studies. Exhibiting low toxicity to plants, vancomycin is suitable for plant selection and prevention of bacterial contamination in plant cell culture applications.