Nucleocidin

Abstract

Attention was first attracted to nucleocidin by its very great activity against trypanosomes. Subsequent investigations revealed that the toxicity of this antibiotic was too great to allow its extensive therapeutic use; consequently relatively little work has been done on its mode of action. However, its structural similarity to puromycin led to the suggestion that it might inhibit protein synthesis. Investigations of this possibility have revealed that nucleocidin is an extremely potent inhibitor of protein synthesis in vivo. In cell-free systems, however, its potency is not remarkably greater than that of other antibiotics. Although the mechanism by which nucleocidin inhibits protein synthesis has not been fully explained, some apparently unique properties of the process have been discovered.