Question

sparsomycin is an antibiotic of agent that inhibits trna binding to a site and enhances trna binding to the p site. it is also used as a tumour drug. how can it be that this agent can do both? group of answer choices it inhibits translation in prokaryotes and topoisomerases in eukaryotes. this question doesn't make sense: antibiotic agents can not also be anti-tumour agents. it inhibits translation in prokaryotes and transcription in eukaryotes. it targets translation processes in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. it binds 30s subunit and prevents ternary complex binding to ribosomes in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

Answer 1

Sparsomycin has the ability to inhibit protein synthesis by affecting tRNA binding in the ribosomal A and P sites. It works as an antibiotic in prokaryotes and can serve as an anti-tumor drug in eukaryotes by reaching concentrations high enough to inhibit protein synthesis in cancer cells.

Step-by-step explanation:

Sparsomycin is an antibiotic that inhibits tRNA binding to the A site and enhances tRNA binding to the P site in the ribosome. This dual action can occur because sparsomycin targets protein synthesis processes, which are essential for both bacterial and eukaryotic cells. However, it is important to note that antibiotics can be selectively more toxic to bacterial cells than to eukaryotic cells, exploiting differences in ribosomal structure and function between these cell types.

While sparsomycin inhibits translation in prokaryotes by affecting the ribosomal A site, it can also be used as an anti-tumor drug in eukaryotes because it can sometimes reach high enough concentrations within eukaryotic cells to inhibit their protein synthesis. This inhibition of protein synthesis in cancer cells can lead to reduced proliferation or cell death, thereby offering therapeutic benefits as an anti-tumor agent.

Overall, the fact that an agent can function as both an antibiotic and an anti-tumor drug is not unusual. Several drugs and antibiotics possess properties that allow them to inhibit key cellular processes like protein synthesis in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, but in a clinical setting, the concentrations and specific conditions can favor selectivity for one effect over the other.