Final answer:
Tetracyclines are bacteriostatic antibiotics that inhibit protein synthesis in bacteria by preventing tRNA from binding to the ribosome, without significantly affecting host cells.
Step-by-step explanation:
Tetracyclines are a class of bacteriostatic antibiotics that work by inhibiting bacterial protein synthesis. Specifically, they bind to the 30S ribosomal subunit and block the association of tRNA molecules with the ribosome during translation. This action effectively prevents the transfer of amino acids to the growing peptide chain, thus halting protein synthesis in bacteria. Tetracyclines have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and are less likely to inhibit protein synthesis in host cells due to the absence of a tetracycline uptake mechanism in eukaryotic cells. A well-known tetracycline derivative is doxycycline, which is used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.