STUDIES OF THE MECHANISM OF ACTION OF ENRAMYCIN, AN ANTIBIOTIC OF THE PEPTIDE GROUP

(II) Supplemental Study on the Disturbance of Cytoplasmic Membrane

Abstract

Enramycin (ERM) even in low concentrations lyses Escherichia coli spheroplasts and Bacillus megaterium protoplasts easily. ERM does not transform sensitve bacteria to protoplasts, not as by penicillin or cephalosporin derivatives. ERM has the action of the release of cellular constituents, US 260 mg absorbing materials. No distinct changes of DNA, RNA and protein amounts of Staphylococcus aureus are observed by exposition to ERM. So there are little possibility of ERM to cause inhibition of nucleic acids and protein synthesis. This report agrees with the result of previous paper about morphological study by electron microscopy. Both reports show the antibacterial mechanism of action of ERM is the impairment of cytoplasmic membrane.