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Penicillin Lab Report

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Penicillin is a natural enzyme inhibitor which was accidentally discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. The drug was the first antibiotic discovered by modern science and has continually played an important role in the fight against infections.
Penicillin basically attacks the formation of cell walls of bacteria during the very last stage of biosynthesis. This prevents the synthesis of the bacteria’s cell wall and eventually causes the cell to burst. This is very important step because the human cell does not have cell wall and as such does not suffer a similar fate.
How exactly does penicillin attack the cell wall of bacteria?
To properly analyze that question, it is important to take a closer look at the bacteria cell wall. In order to …show more content…

This is how penicillin uses its structure in the inhibition process. Penicillin and D-alanyl-D-alanine compete to attach themselves to the site of the enzyme. The enzyme remains ineffective after the attachment of penicillin and the inhibition is irreversible. The action results in transpeptidase becoming inactive. When the synthesis of the cell wall fails after the inhibition, the bacteria burst. This effectively kills the bacteria. Penicillin does not however affect the other animal cells because they don’t have cell walls. This is an effective way to reduce the bacteria load in the body. However penicillin also has some adverse effects which need to be …show more content…

However the good bacteria normally work on the bad ones and create some kind of balance. If left unchecked, the bad bacteria can cause extensive damage to the walls of the gut. However when medication reduces the load of these good bacteria, one’s health can be seriously affected.
Some general symptoms related to the adverse effect of penicillin on the good bacteria include abdominal pain and diarrhea. References:
Scheffers and Pinho. (2005). Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis: New Insights from Localization Studies. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1306805/
Blackstock. (2011). Penicillin error puts woman in coma. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/nov/09/NHS1
Drugs as Enzyme Inhibitors. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2016 from

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