l'll^'SI()|,()(i\' 



127 



A study of \\\v coinparativc utilizMtioii of 

 dinVrcnt amino acids by a sti-(>|)toinyc('s and 

 a funiius has Ixhmi made hy W'aksnian and 

 Lonianitz, as shown in Taljlc 'JS. In sonu* 

 cases, thi> act inomycotcs arc cx'cn more (>f- 

 licient than tli(- t'uiiiii. The compai'at ixc de- 

 composition of plant proteins by a strepto- 

 myces and a fungus is sliown in Talile 21). 



The utiH/.ation of nitro,a;en soui'ces hy ,S'. 

 (jriscux, from the point of view of strepto- 

 mycin production, lias received e()nsideral)le 

 attention (Dulaney, 1948). 



The ran*j;e of utihzation of \arious nitro- 

 gen compounds by certain nocardias and 

 streptomyces grown in synthetic media were 

 reported by Mariat (ID.kS) as follows: 



A', ostcroidcs: Asparagine > urea > casein 

 hydrolyzate > P04H(XH4)2 > XOJv > 

 X():,XH4 > S04(XH,,)2 > XO.Xa; the last 

 compound was not utilized. 



A', brasilicnsis: Casein hydrolyzate > 

 POJI(XH4)2 > XOJv > asparagine > 

 urea > S04(XH4)2 > XO3XH4 > XOaXa 

 which was not utilized. 



.s". madurac: P04H(X'H4)2 > urea > as- 

 paragine > casein hydrolyzate > NOJv > 

 X():iXH4 > S04(XH4)2 > XO.Xa which 

 was not utilized. 



.S. pellcticn: Urea = asparagine = casein 

 hydrolyzate = P04H(XH4)2 • The other 

 compounds were not utilized. 



.S. somalknsis: Casein hydrolj^zate > 

 asparagine. The other compounds were not 

 utilized. 



Vagashita and I'mezawa (1951) studied 

 the nitrogen utilization of S. phaeochromo- 

 (jcncs, an organism that produces chloram- 

 phenicol in natural media and in synthetic 

 media containing glycerol, sodium nitrate, 

 and different amino acids. They obser\-ed 

 that alpha-aminobutyric acid, norvaline, 

 leucine, phenylalanine, thyroxine, methio- 

 nine, lysine, and tryptophan increased the 

 ])r()duction of the antibiotic over that given 

 by the ])asal mediiun; while glycine, alanine, 

 valine, isoleucine, serine, glutamic acid. 



Tabi.k 2<t 



l)(<()iii/iiistti<ni of phinl prolans In/ ilijfcnnl 



microorganisms (Wuksnian and Starkey) 



cystine, and histidine had little el'fect and in 

 some instances gave less than the basal 

 medium. The most effective was phenyl- 

 alanine. Alpha-aminobutyric acid, methio- 

 nine, and serine, if added to a medium 

 containing phenylalanine, increased the pro- 

 duction of antil)iotic; norvaline, leucine, 

 lysine did not ha\'e this efi'ect. 



Corum ct al. (1954) showed that S. 

 erythreus produced an antibiotic in synthetic 

 media containing glycine and that the micro- 

 organism synthesized alanine first, then 

 valine, and later several amino acids and 

 small peptides appeared. 



Sackmann (1956), studying a slrepto- 

 myces related to S. roseochromogenes, which 

 produces an antibiotic on synthetic media 

 composed of a basal medium containing 

 several amino acids, asparagine, and urea, 

 showed that aspartic acid, glutamic acid, 

 glycine, alanine, asparaghie, and urea gave 

 good production, while gamma-amino-bu- 

 tyric^ acid, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, 

 and cystine gave very poor production of the 

 antibiotic. 



Dulmage tested the utilization of 23 

 amino acids and other nitrogenous com- 

 pounds by *S. fradiae for growth and neo- 

 mycin production. Best growth was obtained 

 with gelatin and a casein digest, and with 

 L-arginine, D-glutamic acid, L-glutamic 

 acid. i>-histi(line, L-lysine, L-proline, and 



