Question

The type of antimicrobial drug that would be least toxic to humans is a drug thatA) Inhibits protein synthesisB) Disrupts the cytoplasmic membraneC) Inhibits nucleic acid synthesisD)Inhibits cell wall synthesis

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is D) Inhibits cell wall synthesis.

Explanation:

Antimicrobial drugs are drugs that act against microbes like bacteria, fungus, virus, protozoa, etc. These drugs must be specific and should not harm the host cells but must be effective against microbial cell.

Both microbes and humans contain proteins, cytoplasmic membrane, and nucleic acid therefore antimicrobial drugs that target these structures can harm the host cell.

As human lack cell wall, therefore, the antimicrobial drug which inhibit cell wall synthesis will not be able to harm humans and will selectively kill the cells that contain cell wall like bacteria. Therefore the right answer is D.