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Penicillin can easily enter bacterial cells in the case of Gram-positive species. This is because Gram-positive bacteria do not have an outer cell membrane and are simply enclosed in a thick cell wall. [45] Penicillin molecules are small enough to pass through the spaces of glycoproteins in the cell wall.
β-Lactam antibiotics are indicated for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible organisms. At first, β-lactam antibiotics were mainly active only against gram-positive bacteria, yet the recent development of broad-spectrum β-lactam antibiotics active against various gram-negative organisms has increased their usefulness.
Staphylococcus and Corynebacterium were among the most common types of bacteria found in the navels of this project's volunteers and these types of bacteria have been found to be the most common types of bacteria found on the human skin in larger studies of the skin microbiome [18] (of which the Belly Button Biodiversity Project is a part). [10]
The cell wall of bacteria is also distinct from that of achaea, which do not contain peptidoglycan. The cell wall is essential to the survival of many bacteria, and the antibiotic penicillin (produced by a fungus called Penicillium) is able to kill bacteria by inhibiting a step in the synthesis of peptidoglycan. [79]
Penicillinase is a bacterial enzyme produced by bacteria resistant to other β-lactam antibiotics which hydrolyses the antibiotic, rendering it non-functional. Methicillin is not bound and hydrolysed by penicillinase, meaning it can kill the bacteria, even if this enzyme is present.
Some antibiotics may also damage the mitochondrion, a bacteria-derived organelle found in eukaryotic, including human, cells. [52] Mitochondrial damage cause oxidative stress in cells and has been suggested as a mechanism for side effects from fluoroquinolones . [ 53 ]
Since the cell wall is required for bacterial survival, but is absent in some eukaryotes, several antibiotics (notably the penicillins and cephalosporins) stop bacterial infections by interfering with cell wall synthesis, while having no effects on human cells which have no cell wall, only a cell membrane.
Bacteria have microcompartments, quasi-organelles enclosed in protein shells such as encapsulin protein cages, [4] [5] while both bacteria and some archaea have gas vesicles. [6] Prokaryotes have simple cell skeletons. These are highly diverse, and contain homologues of the eukaryote proteins actin and tubulin. The cytoskeleton provides the ...