General Description

• Ampicillin is a broad-spectrum, semi-synthetic, β-lactam penicillin with bactericidal activity. It acts against several gram-positive and -negative infections
• This compound binds to and inactivates penicillin-binding proteins (PBP) located on the inner membrane of the bacterial cell wall. This inactivation interferes with the cross-linkage of peptidoglycan chains essential for bacterial cell wall strength and rigidity. Consequently, there is an interruption in the bacterial cell wall synthesis which results in the weakening of the bacterial cell wall causing cell lysis

Application

• In laboratory experiments, it is commonly used as a selector reagent for transformed cells expressing β-lactamase. The ampicillin-resistant gene (ampR) catalyzes the hydrolysis of the β-lactam ring of ampicillin and naturally detoxifies the drug
• Ampicillin is commonly used as a selection marker for E. coli and other bacteria during plasmid DNA isolation, protein expression, and gene cloning