Streptogramins, oxazolidinones, and other inhibitors of bacterial protein synthesis

Up to the present, translation and the ribosome remain outstanding drug targets with a number of efforts directed toward further mining the potential of this ribozyme and associated activities in drug design. Ribosome is still considered a very important drug target. This review covers the structure, mode of action, and resistance to the streptogramin and oxazolidinone antibiotics, two distinct classes of antibiotics recently brought to market for treatment of bacterial infections. It also describes some new and old classes of antibiotics that block translation.