which cellular component in the bacterial cell is targeted by ampicillin
Ampicillin Ampicillin acts as an irreversible inhibitor of the enzyme transpeptidase, which is needed by bacteria to make the cell wall.[2] It inhibits the third and final stage of bacterial cell wall synthesis in binary fission, which ultimately leads to cell lysis; therefore, ampicillin is usually bacteriolytic.[2][32]
Bacterial cell structure Unlike eukaryotes, the bacterial DNA is not enclosed inside of a membrane-bound nucleus but instead resides inside the bacterial cytoplasm. This means that the transfer of cellular information through the processes of translation, transcription and DNA replication all occur within the same compartment and can interact with other cytoplasmic structures, most notably ribosomes. The bacterial DNA is not packaged using histones to form chromatin as in eukaryotes but instead exists as a highly compact supercoiled structure, the precise nature of which remains unclear.[4] Most bacterial chromosomes are circular although some examples of linear DNA exist (e.g. Borrelia burgdorferi). Along with chromosomal DNA, most bacteria also contain small independent pieces of DNA called plasmids that often encode for traits that are advantageous but not essential to their bacterial host. Plasmids can be easily gained or lost by a bacterium and can be transferred between bacteria as a form of horizontal gene transfer. So plasmids can be described as an extra chromosomal DNA in a bacterial cell.