120 



THE ACTINOMYCETES, Vol. I 



Table 21 



Utilization of various carbohydrates and related 



compounds by different streptomyces (Benedict 



et al.) 



The basal medium of Pridham and Gottlieb 



was used. 



Source of carbon 



Number of 

 strains 

 tested 



Utilization of 

 carbon source 



Positive Negative 

 strains strains 



Erythritol 137 9 128 



Adonitol 136 46 90 



D-Sorbitol 14S 31 117 



Dulcitol 41 1 40 



('-Inositol 147 71 76 



D-Mannitol 146 107 39 



D-Xylose 133 102 31 



L-Arabinose 137 98 39 



L-Sorbose 146 146 



Melibiose 130 48 82 



Melezitose 136 45 91 



D-Fructose 140 111 29 



L-Ilhamnose 137 66 71 



Trehalose 138 118 20 



Maltose 145 141 4 



Sucrose 144 38 106 



Lactose 142 94 48 



Raffinose 143 41 102 



Inulin 146 36 110 



Salicin 147 106 41 



Esculin 145 54 91 



Dextran 147 58 89 



K-5-ketogluconate 144 32 112 



Ca-2-ketogluconate 144 30 114 



Na acetate 40 35 5 



Na succinate 40 40 



species of Streptomyces are able to grow in 

 high concentrations of carbon sources, such 

 as 80 per cent dextrin, 10 to 20 per cent 

 glycerol, or 20 to 30 per cent glucose. 



Kurasawa classified the antibiotic-pro- 

 ducing cultures, on the basis of their sugar 

 utihzation, into four groups: 1. Rhamnose- 

 and rathnose-negative, 2. Khaninose- and 

 rafhnosc-positive, o. Rhanuiose-positive and 

 raffinose-negative, 4. Rhamnose-negati\-e 

 and raffinose-p()siti\-e. These were further 

 subdivided on the l)asis of utiUzation of 

 xylose, lactose, niannitol, and acetate. The 



streptomycin-producing culttu'es fell into 

 group 1 and were able to utilize all the four 

 compounds according to the secondary char- 

 acterization. The streptothricin-producing 

 organisms also fell into group 1, but they 

 were only acetate-positive and xylose-, lac- 

 tose-, and mannitol-negative. chlorampheni- 

 col fell into group 'A, and Producers of acti- 

 nomycins into group 2. 



Burkholder et al., foinid that ^•iomycin- 

 producing strains of »S. floridae and S. cal- 

 ifornicus utilized xylose, glucose, galactose, 

 fructose, cellobiose, maltose, mannitol, and 

 starch; they grew poorlj^ on arabinose, 

 rhamnose, lactose, sucrose, raffinose, ducitol, 

 i-inositol, and salicm. The grisein-producing 

 strauis of S. gn'seus, but not the strepto- 

 mycin-producuig strains, grew well on arabi- 

 nose and rhamnose (Table 23). 



]\[cClung (1954) made a detailed study of 

 the utilization of a large number of carbon 

 compounds by species of Nocardia. He found 

 that carbon compounds having an alpha- 

 glucoside linkage (maltose, starch, dextrin, 

 trehalose) are used more often than those 

 having a beta-glucoside linkage (cellulose, 

 lactose). He came to the conclusion that no 

 relationship exists between carbon com- 

 poiuid utilization and the morphological 

 groups. Since no two organisms used exactly 

 the same carbon sources, the possibility of 

 using carbon compound utilization as a 

 means of species differentiation was strongly 

 suggested. However, the carbon compounds 

 used by six strains of .V. asteroides were not 

 the same. This suggested that different iso- 

 lates of the same organisms differ in their 

 ability to use carl)on compoinids. 



A substance related to vitamin Bi is ef- 

 fective in stimulating the growth of X. 

 cornllino (Reader, Peters et al., Lutz). ^Mar- 

 tin and Batt have .-^hown that this organism 

 reciuires the addition of thiamine to synthetic 

 media, especially for the utilization of am- 

 moniiun ions. 



^'arious organic acids, such as malic and 



