Table 12.2.

Antibiotics which affect ribosome machinery

Drug type	Drug	Derivation	Species range	Primary target	Pathways affected
Aminoglycosides and tetracyclines
Protein synthesis inhibitors	Gentamicin, tobramycin, streptomycin, kanamycin, tetracycline, and doxycycline	Natural and semisynthetic forms of amino sugars (-mycins from Streptomyces spp. and -mycins from Micromonospora spp.)	Aerobic, Gram-positive and Gram-negative species, and M. tuberculosis	30S ribosome	Protein translation (mistranslation by tRNA mismatching), ETC, SOS response, TCA cycle, Fe–S cluster synthesis, ROS formation, and envelope and redox-responsive two-component systems
Macrolides
Protein synthesis inhibitors	Erythromycin and azithromycin	Natural and semisynthetic forms of 14- and 16-membered lactone rings (from S. erythraea and S. ambofaciens)	Aerobic and anaerobic, Gram-positive and Gram-negative species	50S ribosome	Protein translation (through inhibition of elongation and translocation steps) and free tRNA depletion

Courtesy to: Nature review, Microbiology, 2010: 8: 423–435