Ampicillin, like other β-lactam antibiotics, not only blocks the division of bacteria, but also the division of chloroplasts of the glaucophytes (called cyanelles) and chloroplasts of the moss Physcomitrella patens, a bryophyte.
The cells which have taken up the plasmid can be differentiated from cells which have not taken up the plasmid by growing it on media with Ampicillin.
RK 2 was first isolated in connection with an outbreak of antibotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella aerogenes in Birmingham in 1969, as one of a family of plasmids implicated in transfer of Ampicillin resistance between bacterial strains.
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PFF1 consists of an origin of replication, oriV, an origin of transfer, oriT, a gene coding for plasmid replication proteins, trfA, and two antibiotic resistance genes, bla and cat, which confer resistance to Ampicillin and Chloramphenicol, respectively.
Ampicillin/sulbactam is indicated as HACEK endocarditis, specifically Eikenella, is the most worrying complication.
Endiandric acid C, isolated from the Endiandra introrsa tree, is reported to have better antibiotic activity than ampicillin.