The aminoglycosides (streptomycin, neomycin, netilmicin, tobramycin, gentamicin, amikacin, etc.) bind irreversibly to the 16S rRNA in the 30S subunit of bacterial ribosomes. It has been proposed that some aminoglycosides interfere with the proofreading process that helps assure the accuracy of translation. Possibly the antibiotics reduce the rejection rate for tRNAs that are near matches for the codon. This leads to misreading of the codons or premature termination of protein synthesis.

Illustration of Aminoglycosides Interfering withTranslation by causing a Misreading of the Codons along the mRNA.jpg by Gary E. Kaiser, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology, The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville Campus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://cwoer.ccbcmd.edu/science/microbiology/index_gos.html.

Last updated: September, 2018
Please send comments and inquiries to Dr. Gary Kaiser