Question

Bacteria can make their own folic acid, which is required for nucleic acid synthesis, but humans cannot and instead have to ingest folic acid. Trimethoprim is an antimicrobial drug that inhibits one of the enzymes involved in making folic acid. This drug inhibits the growth of bacterial cells but not human cells. This is an example of

Answer 1

This drug inhibits the growth of bacterial cells but not human cells. This is an example of the selective toxicity of antibiotics.

Folic acid is an essential component for all cells to synthesize nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). Human cells do not synthesize folic acid and they take it through food. Bacterial cells are impermeable to folic acid and hence they need to synthesize their own folic acid.

Antibiotics target the metabolic pathway of folic acid synthesis in bacteria by inhibiting one of the enzymes in this pathway. These drugs are only toxic to bacteria but not to humans because humans do not have the folic acid synthesis pathway and hence they do not get affected by the action of the antibiotic. This is known as the selective toxicity of antibiotics.

These antibiotics are designed in a way to target the infecting agent (bacteria) while rendering minimal or no toxicity to the host (humans).

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