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. 1978 Aug;14(2):257–266. doi: 10.1128/aac.14.2.257

Inhibition of Cell Division of Escherichia coli by a New Synthetic Penicillin, Piperacillin

Kyoko Iida 1, Seiichi Hirata 2, Seiichi Nakamuta 3, Masaatsu Koike 1
PMCID: PMC352443  PMID: 358919

Abstract

The mechanism of the action of piperacillin against Escherichia coli was investigated. This drug converted cells to filaments, but did not show lytic action in a range of concentrations below 25 μg/ml. In some of the filaments, stretched constrictions with various diameters were observed. Addition of piperacillin to a synchronous culture inhibited cell division immediately at any stage of the cell cycle. The results of morphological examination of synchronous cultures show that the percentage of filaments with a stretched constriction corresponds to that of normally septated cells before addition of the drug. Furthermore, peptidoglycan synthesis and cross-linking were not inhibited by this drug. It is likely that this drug inhibits only septum formation, but not the growth of wall, and that stretched constrictions are a result of longitudinal growth of septation caused by the drug. Examination of affinity of the drug to penicillin-binding proteins shows that protein 3 is the most sensitive, proteins 2 and 7 are moderately so, and protein 1 is sensitive only to high concentrations of the drug.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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