Kanamycin Sulfate is a water-soluble antibiotic, originally purified from Streptomyces kanamyceticus, with broad antibacterial spectrum, including mycobacteria, many gram-positive and most gram-negative bacteria. Kanamycin inhibits bacterial protein synthesis by binding 70S ribosomes resulting in dysfunctional translation of mRNA. It is commonly used as a selective agent to select for resistant mammalian, fungal, or bacterial cells that contain the kanamycin resistance genes and is also used for the prevention of bacterial contamination of cell cultures.