BRAINCAKEAntimetabolites
An antimetabolite is a substance that interferes with a normal metabolic pathway, usually because it has a similar shape to one of the pathway's substrates. Antimetabolite antibiotics block pathways that bacteria need but human cells do not use.
The best-known example is the sulfonamides (sulfa drugs). Bacteria must make their own folic acid (folate), which they need to make nucleotides for DNA and RNA. An early step in the pathway uses the enzyme dihydropteroate synthase, whose substrate is para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA).
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All 30 lessons in Bacteria and Disease · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics