Chloramphenicol

Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum synthetic antibiotic originally isolated from Streptomyces venezuelae. It is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Chloramphenicol acts as a bacteriostatic agent by binding reversibly to the 50S ribosomal subunit, interfering with peptide synthesis. It has applications in antibiotic resistance gene testing, as a selection agent in bacterial cell culture, and as a substrate in the CAT assay.