PHODIC'TIOX OF riCMI'lXTS 



199 



and its prmious cultivation. Tho insoluble 

 pigments are more const ani in natuce than 

 the soiul)le kinds. The foi-niat ion of \\;iler- 

 st)hil)le brown to blaciv piji;ments on oi'ganic 

 media lias l)(>cn used to designate the clu-o- 

 mogenic st reptomyces. The tyrosinase action 

 characteristic of tliese organisms was iie- 

 he\-ed l>v Beijerinctc to (>.\plain tiie mecha- 

 nism of the pi-nductioii of this pigment. 



Miiller first studied the pigment pro(hiced 

 b}-" ^^ coclicolor. It is darl< bhie and tUi'fuses 

 readily into an alkaline medium. If the reac- 

 tion of the culture changes to acid the pig- 

 ment becomes red. This pigment was found 

 to be protluccnl on synthetic media with 

 starch, sucrose, and other carbon sources. 

 This is the reason for the designation of the 

 culture variously as S. violaceoruher and S. 

 tricolor. Beijerinck (1914) described a cul- 

 ture, .4. cijancHs, now classified with the 

 nocardias, which produced a pigment similar 

 in its properties to the anthoc.yanins. This 

 pigment was recently designated as litmoci- 

 din. 



Lieske recognized two types of pigments 

 among the actinomycetes: (a) the chromo- 

 phores or pigments which are not excreted 

 from the mycelium into the medium, and 

 (b) the chromopars or pigments which are 

 readily excreted. The first group comprises 

 the pigments found in the vegetative myce- 

 lium grown on synthetic media; these are 

 yellow, orange, red, blue, violet, brown, 

 black, and green. The aerial mycelium of 

 these cultures may be white, rose, lavender, 

 red, yellow, orange, green, or gray. The sol- 

 uble pigments are usually yellow, blue, and 

 red; occasionally the}^ are green, orange, or 

 brown. 



Kriss established that even the chromo- 

 phore pigments are partly dissolved in the 

 medium, possibly because of the lysis of the 

 mycelium and the spores. Some of these pig- 

 ments are insoluble in water and are bound 

 to the proteins. Others are dissolved in the 

 fats and lipoids of the cell. Some maj^ be 



Table 48 



Sulubilitj/ uf actiiionii/cctc ■pigments (von riotho) 



Group Ether Chloro- ^s, CCU ^^^l[, Water 



Red-yellow -(- + -(--)--)__ 

 Red4)ro\vii — — — __)_ _^ 

 Red-blue — — — ___ 



wat(n--soluble, but are unable to pass through 

 the living cell plasma; on the death and lysis 

 of the cell, these pigments may dissolve into 

 the medium. The solubility of the chromopar 

 pigments in water is due to the greater pene- 

 tration of the pigment through the cell wall. 

 Kriss suggested classification of the pig- 

 ments of actinomycetes into four types: 



I. Pigments soluble in water and in 96 

 per cent alcohol; these are capable of pass- 

 ing through the li\'ing cell plasma. This 

 group has been subdivided into (a) antho- 

 cyanins, soluble only in water, and (b) hy- 

 droactinochromes, soluble in water and in 

 alcohol. 



II. Lipoactinochromes, insoluble in water 

 but soluble in alcohol and in other organic 

 solvents. 



III. Pigments insoluble both in water and 

 in organic solvents. 



IV. A combination of water-soluble and 

 water-insoluble pigments. 



Lieske isolated a culture of a st reptomyces 

 that produced a carmine-red pigment that, 

 when boiled in dilute acid, became soluble 

 in alcohol and in ether. Certain actinomy- 

 cetes produce a red pigment that is made 

 soluble only by the action of concentrated 

 HCl; on treatment with H2SO4 it is changed 

 to a blue-green pigment. A^. polychromogenes 

 produces a red pigment, soluble in chloro- 

 form, ether, and acid, but not in alcohol, 

 glycerol water, or dilute alkali; this pigment 

 is also changed to blue-green by H0SO4 . 



Certain light yellow pigments produced 

 by actinomycetes are insoluble in organic 

 solvents, but are soluble in dilute KOH so- 



