Everything about Actinomycin totally explained
Actinomycin is any of a class of
polypeptide antibiotics isolated from soil
bacteria of the genus
Streptomyces.
Mechanism
Actinomycin-D is primarily used as an investigative tool in cell biology to inhibit
transcription. It does this by binding
DNA at the transcription initiation complex and preventing elongation by
RNA polymerase.
As it can bind DNA duplexes, it can also interfere with
DNA replication, although other chemicals such as
hydroxyurea are better suited for use in the laboratory as inhibitors of DNA synthesis.
Clinical use
As chemotherapy
Actinomycin-D is marketed under the trade name
Dactinomycin. Actinomycin-D is one of the older chemotherapy drugs which has been used in therapy for many years.
It is a clear, yellow liquid which is administered intravenously and most commonly used in treatment of a variety of cancers, including:
As an antibiotic
It was the first antibiotic shown to have anti-
cancer activity, but isn't normally used as such, as it's highly
toxic, causing damage to genetic material.
It was the first antibiotic ever isolated by
Selman Waksman.
Research use
Actinomycin-D and its
fluorescent derivative,
7-amino-actinomycin D, are used as stains in
microscopy and
flow cytometry applications. The affinity of these stains compounds for GC-rich regions of DNA strands makes them excellent markers for DNA.
7-amino-actinomycin D (7-AAD) is used as a DNA stain. 7-AAD binds to single stranded DNA. Therefore it's a useful tool in determining apoptosis and distinguishing between dead cells and live ones. (
Source
)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Actinomycin'.
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