The Effect of Streptomycin and Other Aminoglycoside Antibiotics on Protein Synthesis

Abstract

Streptomycin (Sm), the first nontoxic broad spectrum antibiotic also effective against the tubercle bacillus, was isolated from Streptomyces griseus by Schatz, Bugie, and Waksman in 1944. The structures of Sm and several of its active derivatives are shown in Fig. 1. It is composed of streptidine, an inositol substituted with two guanido groups, and streptobiosamine, a disaccharide containing a methylamino group. Streptidine can also be considered a substituted streptamine, which emphasizes a chemical moiety found in other aminoglycoside antibiotics, Fig. 3 and 4. Antibacterial activity is destroyed by cleavage of the glycosidic bond between streptidine and streptobiosamine, by replacing the guanido groups with amino groups, or by carbobenzyloxylation of the secondary amine (Polglase, 1965).