The effect of ribosomal antibiotics on the photoinduced affinity labeling of Escherichia coli ribosomes by puromycin [Cooperman, B.S., Jaynes, E.N., Brunswick, D.J., & Luddy, M.A. (1975) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 1974; Jaynes, E.N. Jr., Grant, P.G., Giangrande, G., Wieder, R., & Cooperman, B.S. (1978) Biochemistry 17, 561] has been studied. Although blasticidin S, sparsomycin, lincomycin, and erythromycin are essentially without effect, major changes are seen on addition of either chloramphenicol or tetracycline. The products of photoincorporation have been characterized by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and by specific immunoprecipitation with antibodies to ribosomal proteins. In the presence of chloramphenicol, protein S14 becomes the major labeled protein. In the presence of tetracycline, L23 remains the major labeled protein, but the yield of labeled ribosomes is enormously increased, and the labeling is more specific for L23. These results are discussed in terms of the known modes of action of these antibiotics and the photoreactivity of tetracycline.

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