Question

What are antibiotics? Give two examples of antibiotics. Which organisms, bacteria or fungi, are used for the production of antibiotics?

Answer 1

Antibiotics:

1. A chemical substance produced by a living organism that can prevent the growth of some disease-causing bacteria is known as an antibiotic.
2. Penicillin was the first antibiotic discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1929. The term antibiotic was first coined by Selman Waksman in 1942.

Bacteria and fungi both, are used for the production of antibiotics.

Examples of some antibiotics:

1. Streptomycin is one of the most widely used antibiotics obtained from the bacterium Streptomyces griseus used to cure TB ( tuberculosis).
2. Chlortetracycline is produced from the bacterium Streptomyces aureofaciens ( use to cure Typhoid).
3. Chloramphenicol is produced from the bacterium Streptomyces venezuelae.
4. Some molds are used as antibiotics to check the effect of disease-producing bacteria. Eg. Penicillin is used to cure pneumonia.