Puromycin Dihydrochloride

Puromycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic produced by the fermentation metabolism of Streptomyces alboniger, which kills Gram-positive bacteria, various animal and insect cells, and, in certain special cases, Escherichia coli. Its mechanism of action involves puromycin being a mimic of the 3' end of an aminoacyl-tRNA molecule. It can bind to the A site of the ribosome and be incorporated into the growing peptide chain. Once puromycin binds to the A site, it does not participate in any subsequent reactions, leading to premature termination of protein synthesis and the release of an immature polypeptide containing puromycin at the C-terminal.

The pac gene, which encodes puromycin N-acetyltransferase (PAC), was found in Streptomyces alboniger and confers resistance to puromycin. This feature is now commonly used for selecting mammalian stable cell lines that carry plasmids with the pac gene. Puromycin's widespread use in stable cell line selection is related to the characteristics of lentiviral vectors, as most commercial lentiviral vectors now carry the pac gene. In certain specific cases, puromycin can also be used to select Escherichia coli strains transformed with plasmids carrying the pac gene.

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