A Research Lab Is Trying to Produce New Antibiotics

question 36

Multiple Choice

A research lab is trying to produce new antibiotics.They come up with drugs that detach the hydrophilic heads from the phospholipids in plasma membranes.This drug

• A)would be highly toxic and completely useless for human beings-we also have plasma membranes with hydrophilic head groups!
• B)would be highly toxic only to bacteria,making it an excellent drug to develop and test further.Humans have a different phospholipid structure in their cell plasma membranes than bacteria.
• C)would generally not be toxic enough to damage Gram-negative bacteria,as their plasma membranes lie under a thick layer of peptidoglycan.
• D)would be highly toxic for human beings,but might be useful as a topical antibiotic skin cream.The top layer of skin cells is dead anyway,so it wouldn't matter if this damaged those cells.It could NOT be taken internally,though,by human beings.

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Definitions:

Beta Particle Emission

A radioactive decay process where an unstable atomic nucleus emits a beta particle, which is a high-speed electron or positron, as part of the transformation to a stable state.

Alpha Particle Emission

A type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus releases an alpha particle (2 protons and 2 neutrons) and transforms into an atom with a mass number 4 units less and atomic number 2 units less.

Beta Particle Emission

A radioactive decay process where a beta particle (electron or positron) is emitted from an atomic nucleus.

Alpha Particle Emission

A type of radioactive decay in which an unstable atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (2 protons and 2 neutrons) to form a new nucleus, decreasing its atomic number by 2 and mass number by 4.