Binding of antibiotics to the ribosome is a prerequisite for their action. Most of the studies investigating the binding of antibiotics (A) to the ribosome (R) have been based so far on the assumption that this interaction can be expressed by a fast equilibrium of the form R + A RA, giving emphasis on the thermodynamic control of the interaction. Bacteria have evolved several elegant solutions to ridding the ribosome of antibiotics, e.g., by lowering the intracellular concentration A via pumping out the antibiotics and hindering their uptake, or by increasing the dissociation of the RA complex via reprogramming the target structure [6] and destroying the antibiotic warhead. Therefore, the efforts for development of new antibiotics have been often oriented to approaches tending to exploit the thermodynamic control of the antibiotic-ribosome interaction, thus overlooking the kinetic control of the binding process.
Kalpaxis DL (2012) The Complexity of Molecular Targeting by Antibiotics Acting on the Ribosome. J Community Med Health Educ 2:e114.
Last date updated on May, 2025