Inhibition of protein synthesis by spectinomycin.

Spectinomycin selectively inhibits protein synthesis in cells and in extracts of Escherichia coli. Mutations to high-level resistance to this antibiotic map close to the streptomycin locus, and the site of action of spectinomycin, like that of streptomycin, is the 30S ribosomal subunit, as shown by experiments with reconstituted 70S ribosomes containing subunits from sensitive and from resistant ribosomes. In contrast to streptomycin, however, spectinomycin is not bactericidal and causes no detectable misreading of polyribonucleotides.