Question

How does penicillin inhibit cell wall synthesis?

How do bacteria die as a result of sensitivity to penicillin?

What are semi-synthetic penicillins?

How are some bacteria resistant to penicillins?

What is the mechanism of action of bacitracin and vancomycin?

What is the spectrum of activity for natural penicillin, semi-synthetic penicillin with bulky side groups, and those with small side groups?

Answer 1

Answer to the first question is, the penicillin inhibits the cell wall synthesis by binding to the -lactam chain of the of the dd-transpeptidase which in turn inhibits the cross linking activity and thus inhibits the cell wall formation or synthesis and the bacterial cell is now exposed to surroundings without the cell wall and would quickly die. dd-transpeptidase is an bacterial enzyme known for cross linking the peptide side chains in the bacterial cell wall.