The aminoglycoside antibiotic hygromycin B was examined in Escherichia coli cells for inhibitory effects on translation and ribosomal-subunit formation. Pulse-chase labeling experiments were performed, which verified lower rates of ribosomal-subunit synthesis in drug-treated cells. Hygromycin B exhibited a concentrationdependent inhibitory effect on viable-cell numbers, growth rate, protein synthesis, and 30S and 50S subunit formation. Unlike other aminoglycosides, hygromycin B was a more effective inhibitor of translation than of ribosomal-subunit formation in E. coli. Examination of total RNA from treated cells showed an increase in RNA corresponding to a precursor to the 16S rRNA, while mature 16S rRNA decreased. Northern hybridization to rRNA in cells treated with hygromycin B showed that RNase II-and RNase III-deficient strains of E. coli accumulated 16S rRNA fragments upon treatment with the drug. The results indicate that hygromycin B targets protein synthesis and 30S ribosomal-subunit assembly.Currently, only a limited number of antibiotics are available to treat multidrug-resistant strains of infectious bacteria, and resistance to even the newest antimicrobial agents is appearing (13). Increasing antibiotic resistance in microbial populations has necessitated the search for alternate cellular targets for new and existing antimicrobial agents. There are many antibiotics available that inhibit translation in bacterial cells by binding to the 30S or 50S ribosomal subunit (3). It has been observed that a number of ribosomal antibiotics possess a second inhibitory activity that prevents ribosomal-subunit assembly. The formation of a functional ribosome is a vital cellular process and is therefore also an important cellular target (4).In order to broaden our understanding of subunit assembly inhibitors, it is important to examine new or poorly studied antibiotics for their possible effects on inhibition of subunit formation. Identifying and comparing these antimicrobial agents will aid in the search for more suitable targets for future antibiotics. Crystallographic data have been obtained for several antibiotics from the aminoglycoside class (2, 25). These studies have shown that binding occurs through unique base interactions in the decoding center of the 30S ribosome, which effectively halts translation by preventing movements necessary for protein synthesis to occur (8). Recent work with the aminoglycoside compounds neomycin and paromomycin has shown that these antimicrobial agents have a second inhibitory target, which is inhibition of 30S ribosomal-subunit formation (18,19). These drugs are capable of inhibiting 30S ribosomalsubunit formation by stalling assembly at an intermediate phase of 30S biosynthesis.There are many antibiotics that target translation by binding to ribosomal subunits that have not been examined for possible inhibitory effects on ribosomal-subunit assembly. One of those antimicrobial agents is the aminoglycoside hygromycin B, a 30S subunit translational inhibitor. Most aminoglycosid...