Editing Ribosome (section)

===Making use of the differences===
The differences between the bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes are exploited by [[medicinal chemistry|pharmaceutical chemists]] to create [[antibiotic]]s that can destroy a bacterial infection without harming the cells of the infected person. Due to the differences in their structures, the bacterial 70S ribosomes are vulnerable to these antibiotics while the eukaryotic 80S ribosomes are not.<ref name="Recht-1999">{{cite journal | vauthors = Recht MI, Douthwaite S, Puglisi JD | title = Basis for prokaryotic specificity of action of aminoglycoside antibiotics | journal = The EMBO Journal | volume = 18 | issue = 11 | pages = 3133–8 | date = June 1999 | pmid = 10357824 | pmc = 1171394 | doi = 10.1093/emboj/18.11.3133 }}</ref> Even though [[mitochondria]] possess ribosomes similar to the bacterial ones, mitochondria are not affected by these antibiotics because they are surrounded by a double membrane that does not easily admit these antibiotics into the [[organelle]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = O'Brien TW | title = The general occurrence of 55 S ribosomes in mammalian liver mitochondria | journal = The Journal of Biological Chemistry | volume = 246 | issue = 10 | pages = 3409–17 | date = May 1971 | doi = 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)62239-2 | pmid = 4930061 | doi-access = free }}</ref> A noteworthy counterexample is the antineoplastic antibiotic [[chloramphenicol]], which inhibits bacterial 50S and eukaryotic mitochondrial 50S ribosomes.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1970-08-17|title=Chloramphenicol-lnduced Bone Marrow Suppression|url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/356164|journal=JAMA|language=en|volume=213|issue=7|pages=1183–1184|doi=10.1001/jama.1970.03170330063011|pmid=5468266|issn=0098-7484}}</ref> Ribosomes in chloroplasts, however, are different: Antibiotic resistance in chloroplast ribosomal proteins is a trait that has to be introduced as a marker, with genetic engineering.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Newman SM, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Randolph-Anderson BL, Johnson AM, Harris EH | title = Transformation of chloroplast ribosomal RNA genes in Chlamydomonas: molecular and genetic characterization of integration events | journal = Genetics | volume = 126 | issue = 4 | pages = 875–88 | date = December 1990 | doi = 10.1093/genetics/126.4.875 | pmid = 1981764 | pmc = 1204285 }}</ref>