Osmosis video - Miscellaneous protein synthesis inhibitors

Protein synthesis inhibitors are a class of antibiotics which prevent bacterial ribosomes from synthesizing proteins. They include drugs like chloramphenicol, macrolides, lincosamides, and oxazolidinones.

Most of these drugs act on the 50S subunit of the ribosome, but their mechanisms can be very different. For example, oxazolidinones like linezolid stop the initiation complex from forming. Both the macrolides and lincosamides prevent translocation. Chloramphenicol inhibits peptidyl transferase which is the enzyme that creates the peptide bonds.