penicillins works by inhibiting the enzymes in bacteria which are responsible for building cell walls. without the continued production of cell wall material, the walls collapse and the cell is destroyed. (the enzymes actually catalyze the production of peptidoglycan, which makes up the cell walls.) the reason most people have no symptoms from penicillins is bc we don't make the enzyme that catalyzes peptidoglycan production [bc animals don't have cell walls] therefore the penicillin doesn't interfere with anything.
also interesting: the first self-replicating molecule was [most likely] RNA, not DNA like you would assume. DNA requires too many enzymes to be the first; it cant replicate independently.
learn something new every day in bio.
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