BIOGENESIS OF ANTIBIOTICS 



71 



Table 23 



Effect of organic nitroyen compounds on 



streptomycin production (Dulaney, 



1948) 



Compound added fO.1%) 



I )L- Alanine 



( Hyc'ine 



L-Arginine-HCl 



L-Aspartic acid 



L-Cysteine HCl 



L-C^'stine 



Creatine hydrate 



L -Glutamic acid 



L-Histidine HCl 



Hydroxy-L-proline 



I )L-Isoleucine 



L-Leucine 



1)L-Lysine HCl 



l)L-Methionine 



DL-Norleucine 



DL-Phenylalanine 



L-Proline 



DL-Serine 



OL-Threonine 



I )L-Tryptophan 



L-Tyrosine 



I)L-Valine 



L'rea 



Guanidine nitrate 



0.1% Corn steep solids . 



0.1% Casein digest 



1 )iammonium hydrogen 



phosphate 



None 



Streptomycin produced 



Glucose 

 diammonium 

 hydrogen phos- 

 phate medium 



No other 

 nitrogen 

 source 



lig/ml 



234 



151 



101 



12 















4 



112 



1-2 



39 



5 



















800 



3 



5 











3 



3 



166 



{)laco without the formation of new cells. 

 HockenhuU (1960) concluded that strepto- 

 mycin "does not constitute a portion of the 

 wall polymers and certainly was not a major 

 constituent." 



Streptomycin is a glycoside containing the 

 monosaccharides streptose and X-methyl- 

 glucosamine, whereas mannosidostreptomy- 

 cin contains streptose, X-methylglucos- 

 amine, and mannose. Both antil)iotics are 

 pi'csent in the hi'oths of N. griscus. The enzy- 



matic conversion of mannosidostreptomycin 

 to streptomycin, which in\-olves hydrolytic 

 removal of the mannose unit, is an impor- 

 tant step in the production of streptonwcin. 

 Glucose preferentially enters the strepto- 

 mycin molecule. A threefold increase in 

 specific radioactivity has been observed in 

 the streptomycin produced in a medium 

 containing labelled glucose as compared with 

 the specific radioactivity of the carbon in the 

 nutrients supplied (Karow ef ciL, 19.")2). The 

 supplementation of »S'. griseus broth with 

 mannose has resulted in an increase in the 

 proportion of mannosidostreptomycin. Man- 

 nose, therefore, meets a second criterion for 



T.\BLE 24 

 Conversion of ('^''-glucose to streptomycin 

 (Hunter and HockenhuU, 1955) 

 Medium: soya bean meal-distillers' solubles- 

 glucose. Glucose added 60 hours after inoculation. 



Substance 



Gluco.se 



Streptomycin 



Streptidine 



Streptamine 



BaCO.-i (from guani- 

 dine groups) 



N-Methyl-L-glucosamine 

 Streptose (by difference) 



Specific activity 



lic/mg carbon 



12.6 X 10-2 



11.6 X 10^ 



10.4 X 10-^ 



12.3 X 10-2 



4.5 X 10-2 



12.2 X 10-2 



12.8 X 10-2 



Table 25 

 Streptomycin production in a proline medium, 

 with amount of diarnmonium hydrogen phosphate 

 as variable (Woodruff and Ruger, 1948) 



