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Science 13 September 1963:
Vol. 141. no. 3585, pp. 1065 - 1067
DOI: 10.1126/science.141.3585.1065
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Articles

Streptomycin as an Antiviral Agent: Mode of Action

Thomas D. Brock 1 and Susan O. Wooley 1

1 Department of Bacteriology, Indiana University, Bloomington

In host bacteria resistant to the antibiotic, streptomycin inhibits phage replication by inhibiting the process of injection. This effect is competitively reversed by certain divalent cations, polyamines, and streptidine. It is proposed that streptomycin inhibits injection by attaching to the phage DNA while it is still folded within the phage head, and in this way it prevents the unfolding which is essential for the injection process. The reversal agents probably function by displacing the antibiotic from the phage, but they also promote injection themselves.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Chloroplast Mutagenesis: Effect of N-Methyl-N'-Nitro-N-Nitrosoguanidine and Some Other Agents on Euglena.
D. R. McCalla (1965)
Science 148, 497-499
   Abstract »    PDF »
Phenotypic Repair of RNA-Bacteriophage Mutants by Streptomycin.
R. C. Valentine and N. D. Zinder (1964)
Science 144, 1458-1459
   Abstract »    PDF »
Science Planks and Party Platforms.
R. E. Lapp (1964)
Science 143, 195
   PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)