THE MODE OF ACTION OF THE ANTIBIOTIC PAROMOMYCIN ON STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

Abstract

Paromomycin (Humatin, Parke Davis & Co.), a broad-spectrum aminoglycosidic antibiotic, inhibits the incorporation of amino acids into the trypsinsoluble protein fraction of Staphylococcus aureus 257. Protein synthesis is inhibited immediately, but the synthesis of cell-wall mucopeptide and alcohol-soluble proteins and lipids is not affected for approximately 35 min after antibiotic addition to actively growing cells. Paromomycin, at the ribosomal level, prevents the attachment of amino acyl-s-RNA and causes accumulation of m-RNA.Divalent cations (Ca++ and Mg++) antagonize the bactericidal action of paromomycin and interfere with the in vivo binding of the antibiotic on both the cell surface and the intracellular binding sites. In vitro binding to free ribosomes can be prevented and reversed by both monovalent and divalent cations.Using a "cylinder-plate" method, involving the displacement of antibiotic from cellular fractions by 0.2 M MgCl2, the antibiotic can be recovered from the ribosomes, cytoplasm, and the cell wall of paromomycin-sensitive S. aureus cells, but is not found in any of these fractions isolated from paromomycin-resistant cells developed from the sensitive parent strain. The resistant mutants apparently have lost the ability to adsorb and transport the antibiotic into the cell.