noun
- A group of antibiotic compounds produced by Streptomyces bacteria that inhibit cellular respiration by blocking electron transport in mitochondria; used in research and as pesticides.
Usage: technical; usually plural; biochemistry and microbiology term
Examples
- Antimycins are commonly used in laboratory studies to investigate mitochondrial function.
- The researcher added antimycins to the cell culture to block ATP production.
- Antimycins have been employed as agricultural fungicides due to their antimicrobial properties.
- The toxicity of antimycins makes them useful tools for studying cellular respiration pathways.