Antibacterial action of primaquine: effects in vitro on polypeptide synthesis and in vivo on ribosomes and ribosomal ribonucleic acid.

Primaquine inhibited polyphenylalanine formation directed by poly(U) in a cell-free system obtained from Bacillus megaterium only when the drug was preincubated with transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA), poly(U), or ribosomes. Considerably less inhibition was produced when the ionic strength of the preincubation mixture of tRNA or poly(U) plus primaquine was increased; with ribosomes, the extent of inhibition was only slightly reduced. In cultures of B. megaterium, primaquine induced the breakdown of ribosomes and their RNA.