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Quinolones are a key group of antibiotics that interfere with DNA synthesis by inhibiting topoisomerase, most frequently topoisomerase II (DNA gyrase), an enzyme involved in DNA replication. DNA gyrase relaxes supercoiled DNA molecules and initiates transient breakages and rejoins phosphodiester bonds in superhelical turns of closed-circular DNA. This allows the DNA strand to be replicated by DNA or RNA polymerases. The fluoroquinolones, second-generation quinolones that include levofloxacin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin, are active against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.
Topoisomerases are present in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, but the quinolones are specific inhibitors of bacterial topoisomerase II. Inhibitors that are effective against mammalian topoisomerases, such as irinotecan and etoposide, are used as antineoplastic drugs to kill cancer cells.
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