Description
GoldBio’s Ampicillin (Sodium) is a high-purity β-lactam antibiotic widely used for plasmid selection and bacterial culture maintenance in molecular biology laboratories. By inhibiting bacterial cell wall synthesis, ampicillin selectively eliminates non-transformed cells while enabling the growth of plasmid-bearing bacteria that express β-lactamase resistance genes.
This selective pressure is essential for maintaining recombinant plasmids during cloning experiments, recombinant protein expression, and routine propagation of engineered bacterial strains.
The sodium salt form offers excellent water solubility, allowing you to quickly prepare sterile stock solutions and accurately supplement growth media such as LB agar or broth.
Because of its consistent activity and compatibility with widely used plasmid vectors and host strains, ampicillin remains one of the most common antibiotics for maintaining selective conditions in bacterial cultures.
GoldBio’s USP-grade formulation provides dependable purity and performance, supporting reproducible results in cloning, antibiotic resistance studies, β-lactamase research, and other microbiology applications. Researchers rely on GoldBio ampicillin for its reliable quality, convenient solubility, and consistent behavior across everyday molecular biology experiments.
Ampicillin Stock Solution - 100 mg/ml
Instructions
- Weigh 1 g of Ampicillin (Ampicillin (Sodium), GoldBio Catalog # A-301 [CAS 69-52-3, mw.= 371.4]).
- Add 10 ml of sterile H2O. Dissolve completely.
- Prewet a 0.22 μm syringe filter by drawing through 5-10 ml of sterile H2O and discard water.
- Sterilize Ampicillin Stock through the prepared 0.22 μm syringe filter.
- Stock may be kept at -80°C for 1 year.
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Note: Ampicillin solutions degrade 13% after one week at -20°C.
Common Research Applications for Ampicillin Sodium
(Click each for more information)
Bacterial Selection in Molecular Cloning
- Purpose: Ampicillin sodium is widely used to select E. coli and other bacteria transformed with plasmids encoding β-lactamase (AmpR).
- How It Works: Ampicillin inhibits bacterial cell wall synthesis by targeting penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), leading to cell lysis. Only bacteria expressing β-lactamase survive.
- Applications: Maintaining selective pressure for plasmid retention in cloning, recombinant protein expression, and plasmid amplification.
Sutcliffe, J. G. (1978). Nucleotide sequence of the ampicillin resistance gene of Escherichia coli plasmid pBR322. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 75(8), 3737–3741.
Maintenance of Recombinant Strains in Protein Expression Systems
- Purpose: Ensures retention of recombinant plasmids during large-scale protein expression in E. coli.
- How It Works: Continued antibiotic pressure prevents plasmid loss by eliminating non-resistant cells.
- Applications: Academic and industrial recombinant protein production workflows.
Sørensen, H. P., & Mortensen, K. K. (2005). Advanced genetic strategies for recombinant protein expression in Escherichia coli. Journal of Biotechnology, 115(2), 113–128.
Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing and Resistance Studies
- Purpose: Serves as a control and test antibiotic for characterizing bacterial β-lactam resistance.
- How It Works: Ampicillin is incorporated into MIC assays or disk diffusion tests to determine bacterial susceptibility profiles.
- Applications: Clinical microbiology research, resistance monitoring, antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST). (2024). Breakpoint tables for interpretation of MICs and zone diameters.
Study of β-Lactamase Enzyme Kinetics and Inhibition
- Purpose: Used as a β-lactam substrate in enzymatic assays for β-lactamase activity and inhibitor characterization.
- How It Works: Ampicillin hydrolysis by β-lactamases can be monitored spectrophotometrically or chromatographically.
- Applications: Studies of enzyme kinetics, antibiotic resistance mechanisms, and β-lactamase inhibitor development.
Drawz, S. M., & Bonomo, R. A. (2010). Three decades of β-lactamase inhibitors. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 23(1), 160–201.
Selection in Mammalian Cell Culture with Shuttle Vectors
- Purpose: Enables bacterial-phase propagation and selection of shuttle vectors before transfection into mammalian cells.
- How It Works: Plasmids used in mammalian expression systems typically include an ampicillin resistance gene for propagation in E. coli during plasmid amplification.
- Applications: Transfection-grade plasmid preparation and mammalian expression workflows.
Sambrook, J., & Russell, D. W. (2001). Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (3rd ed.). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Benefits
· Reliable Plasmid Selection: Ensures high-efficiency selection in E. coli and other gram-negative hosts using β-lactamase-expressing vectors.
· Easy Preparation: Highly soluble in water, simplifying sterile stock solution preparation and media supplementation.
· Protocol Compatibility: Compatible with standard LB agar, broth, and transformation methods, and used across nearly all major vector systems.
· Reproducibility and Quality: USP-grade material offers consistency for both bench research and scale-up production.
· Versatility in Molecular Workflows: Plays a role in both bacterial and pre-transfection plasmid workflows, offering flexibility for research transitions.
Storage/Handling
Store desiccated at -20°C. Soluble in water.
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