Antibiotic susceptibility of the peptidyl transferase locus of bovine mitochondrial ribosomes.

We have a used a modified 'fragment reaction' to compare the susceptibility of isolated bovine mitochondrial ribosomes, bacterial (Escherichia coli) ribosomes and eukaryotic (bovine microsomal) ribosomes to several antibiotics. All of these ribosomes share certain structural features of their peptidyl transferase center, as indicated by their interaction with substrates, puromycin and gougerotin. Bovine mitochondrial ribosomes have other structural features in common with bacterial, but not cytoplasmic ribosomes, as revealed by their susceptibility to chloramphenicol and the streptogramin antibiotics. While mitochondrial ribosomes are susceptible to all inhibitors of bacterial ribosomes tested, their low susceptibility to the lincosamines and macrolides suggests that some component(s) of the binding sites for these antibiotics is altered.