Puromycin Facts Sheet (main)

This mini website about Puromycin was prepared by a student of BioInformatics, the Open University.

alternate names: Puromycin

Inhibitor of protein biosynthesis

Antibiotic used for selecting mammalian cell lines, which have been transformed by vectors that express puromycin-N-acetyl-transferase.

Toxic. May be Carcinogenic.

Puromycin allows the selection of cells expressing the pac gene. Puromycin selection works for Gram-positive bacteria and animal cells

About Puromycin biosynthesis:

... The antibiotic inhibits the growth of Gram positive bacteria and various animal and insect cells. Fungi and Gram negative are resistant due to the low permeability of the antibiotic. Puromycin has been widely used as a basic tool for studying protein synthesis but now is widely utilized for the selection of cell types harboring plasmids carrying puromycin resistance genes...

... Puromycin is an antibiotic that causes premature chain termination during translation. Part of the molecule resembles the 3' end of the aminoacylated tRNAs. It will enter the A site and transfer to the growing chain, causing premature chain release... 

Puromycin inhibits protein import into mitochondria by interfering with an intramitochondrial ATP-dependent reaction...