Nigericin
Overview
Antibiotic
An antibacterial is a compound or substance that kills or slows down the growth of bacteria.The term is often used synonymously with the term antibiotic; today, however, with increased knowledge of the causative agents of various infectious diseases, antibiotic has come to denote a broader range of...
derived from Streptomyces
Streptomyces
Streptomyces is the largest genus of Actinobacteria and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. Over 500 species of Streptomyces bacteria have been described. As with the other Actinobacteria, streptomycetes are gram-positive, and have genomes with high guanine and cytosine content...
hygroscopicus. Its isolation was described in the 1950s, and in 1968 the structure could be elucidated by X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is a method of determining the arrangement of atoms within a crystal, in which a beam of X-rays strikes a crystal and causes the beam of light to spread into many specific directions. From the angles and intensities of these diffracted beams, a crystallographer can produce a...
. The structure and properties of nigericin are similar to the antibiotic
Antibiotic
An antibacterial is a compound or substance that kills or slows down the growth of bacteria.The term is often used synonymously with the term antibiotic; today, however, with increased knowledge of the causative agents of various infectious diseases, antibiotic has come to denote a broader range of...
monensin
Monensin
Monensin is a polyether antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces cinnamonensis. It is widely used in animal feeds.The structure of monensin was first described by Agtarap et al. in 1967, and was the first polyether antibiotic to have its structure elucidated in this way...
. Commercially it is obtained as a byproduct, or contaminant, at the fermentation of Geldanamycin
Geldanamycin
Geldanamycin is a benzoquinone ansamycin antibiotic that binds to Hsp90 and inhibits its function. HSP90 client proteins play important roles in the regulation of the cell cycle, cell growth, cell survival, apoptosis, angiogenesis and oncogenesis.Geldanamycin induces the degradation of proteins...
. It is also called Polyetherin A, Azalomycin M, Helixin C, Antibiotic K178, Antibiotic X-464.
Nigericin acts as an H+, K+, Pb2+ ionophore
Ionophore
An ionophore is a lipid-soluble molecule usually synthesized by microorganisms to transport ions across the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane...
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