Antibiotics that inhibit the growth of the bacterial cell wall include the commonly used penicillin and cephalothin groups; and such often used antibiotics as vaconmycin and bacitracin. Antibiotic that act like detergent on the cell membrane and therefore disrupt the passage of nutrient into the bacterial cell include the antibacterial polymycin and colistin, and the antifungals mycostatin and amphotericin.
Other antibiotics that interfere with protein synthesis in the bacterial cell are tetracyline, aminoglycosides (streptomycin, kanamycin, neomycin, gentamycin, amikacin) and the macrolide group comprising erythromycin, licomycin, and climdamycin.
