Importance of cell biology and AMR Flashcards
Outline the importance of microbiology
- Prevention of infectious disease
- Treatment of infectious disease
- Sterilization of instruments
- Biosecurity
- Epidemiology
- Antimicrobial stewardship
Why is AMR inevitable
- Occurs naturally in the environment
- Multi-resistance mechanism- rapid spread within and between bacterial species
What is AMR
antimicrobial resistance
List drug targets for antibiotics
- cell wall synthesis
- cell membrane structure & function
- translation/ protein synthesis
- transcription
- DNA synthesis & replication
Why is cell wall synthesis a good drug target
- cell wall contains peptidoglycan, which is unique to bacteria
What does bactericidal mean
Means that the drug kills the bacteria
Why is cell membrane function a good drug target?
Disrupted functional integrity of cell membrane leads to escape of macromolecules and ions from bacterial cell
Explain the disadvantages of the cell membrane being a drug target
There is a high level of similarity between bacterial and animal cell membranes. Therefore more toxic for animal cells hence often last resort antibiotics in human medicine
Why is nucleic acid synthesis a good drug target?
Organization and replication of bacterial DNA and RNA different to eukaryotes
What does bacteriostatic mean
The drug prevents growth of bacteria but doe not kill the bacteria
Why is protein synthesis a good drug target
Differences in ribosomal structure between eukaryotes and prokaryotes
Give an example of a drug that effects cell wall synthesis
Penicillin
Give an example of a drug that effects cell membrane structure and function
Polymixin
Give an example of a drug that effects DNA synthesis and replication
Nalidixic acid
Give an example of a drug that effects transcription
Rifampin
