Gram-Negative Bacteria Penicillin

Most people also tolerate penicillin very well, though a small number of people are allergic ("Penicillin allergy - Symptoms and causes", 2018). As you may know, bacterial cells have cell walls containing peptidoglycan. When bacteria divide, holes actually appear in their cell walls that must be filled with peptidoglycan. However, penicillin inhibits proteins that are needed to link the peptidoglycan together. So when bacterial cells try to divide when penicillin is present, the holes in the cell wall cannot be filled in with peptidoglycan. The bacterial cell will eventually burst as solutes from the environment rush into the cell through these holes (Yocum, Rasmussen & Strominger, 2018). There is a catch and disadvantage of this mechanism, …show more content…
Penicillin antibiotics will only work well against gram-positive bacteria. Not all bacteria have the exact same cell wall structure. Gram-positive bacteria have cell walls containing much more peptidoglycan compared to gram-negative bacteria. Gram-negative bacterial cell walls also typically contain lipopolysaccharides and a protein layer in addition to peptidoglycan. These extra layers of the wall in gram-negative bacteria mean that penicillin does not have access to the layer of peptidoglycan, so penicillin is much less effective against these types ("Weird Science: Penicillin and the Cell Wall | manoa.hawaii.edu/ExploringOurFluidEarth", 2018). Another disadvantage is that many bacteria have developed resistance to penicillin. Some bacteria can produce enzymes such as β-lactamase or penicillinase that render penicillin ineffective. Bacteria can pass on the ability to produce these enzymes to other bacteria, leading to resistance. To attempt to get around this problem, drugs called β-lactamase inhibitors are now sometimes given along with β-lactam drugs like penicillin (Drawz & Bonomo, 2010). Bibliography: Alexander Fleming Discovery and Development of Penicillin - Landmark - American Chemical