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Abstract Antibiotics are among the most widely prescribed drugs in both human and veterinary medicine. Furthermore, they are used to protect plants against bacterial and fungal diseases, to decontaminate the shells of eggs, and to improve weight gain and feed conversion in a variety of animals. More antibiotics, in addition, have been essential tools in the elucidation of specific cellular functions. Nowadays, antibiotics have a considerable role in genetic engineering. Antibiotics are low molecular weight microbial metabolites that, at low concentration, inhibit the growth or even destroy other microorganisms. The term low molecular weight substances refers to molecules of at most a few thousand daltons. The term antibiosis was coined by Paul Vuillem in in 1889 and was used by him in a broad sense, referring to all instances where one species destroys the life of another to preserve or”maintain its own. |