Penicillins and cephalosporins, both beta-lactams, inhibit the enzymes that cross-link the peptidoglycan in bacterial cell walls, leading to osmotic lysis. Beta-lactamase is a bacterial enzyme that hydrolyzes the crucial beta-lactam ring in these drugs, rendering them ineffective. It is a primary mechanism of resistance, you see.
I know this because I just revised my notes by the dim light of the library, the fan whirring overhead, while waiting for the school children to arrive. Their simple questions often make the complex details stick better in my mind.
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