ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to summarize current information about, and working models for, the mechanisms of action of antimicrobial agents, which are in clinical use or in advanced stages of investigation, or which illustrate important points or are used in laboratory research. Ampicillin is a penicillin with an antibacterial spectrum of activity similar to that of amoxicillin, but it is generally administered intravenously. The principal targets for the antibacterial activity of quinolones are DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, which are both bacterial type II topoisomerases. Pleuromutilins are antibacterial agents that inhibit protein synthesis by binding to the 50S subunits of bacterial ribosomes. The mechanism of action of telithromycin is essentially similar to that of erythromycin and other macrolides, by inhibiting bacterial protein synthesis via a close interaction with the peptidyl transferase site of the 50S ribosomal subunit, specifically binding to the 23S ribosomal RNA.
