202 



THE ACTINOMYCETES, Vol. I 



Lipoadinochromes 



These pigments are soluble in alcohol and 

 in other fat solvents. They are red, orange, 

 or yellow in a natural state. Kriss di\'ided 

 them into two subgroups: (a) Bright orange 

 pigments soluble in petrol ether. The color 

 does not change in an acid solution, but be- 

 comes lilac in an alkaline solution. The pig- 

 ment is readily dissolved in CS2 . (b) Pig- 

 ments insoluble in petroleum ether. They 

 give a rose-red color in alcoholic solution. 

 In dilute acid solutions, the color is red; and 

 in alkaline, yellow. 



This group of water-insoluble pigments 

 includes the carotenoids. These are produced 

 by the red, orange, and yellow species. 

 Reader demonstrated two such pigments 

 among actinomycetes, one of which was 

 designated as corallin, an ether solution of 

 which gave two bands of absorption in the 

 spectrum. 



Rhodomycin, another red pigment, was 

 studied by Brockmann and Bauer (1950). 



Prodig iosin Pigm en ts 



A prodigiosin-like pigment, yellow in an 

 alkaline solution and red in an acid solution, 

 was isolated by Dietzel from the mycelium 

 of the organism producing actinorhodin. The 

 dry mycelium was treated with methanol, 



then shaken with dilute alkali. The yellow 

 pigment remained in the butanol solution, 

 whereas the blue pigment dissolved in the 

 alkali. The butanol was distilled off and the 

 residue was dissolved in l:)enzol and chroma- 

 tographed on an Al-.-O^ column. The deeply 

 red zone was treated with methanol. On 

 shaking with XaHCOis solution, the pigment 

 changed to yellow. The pigment pro\'ed to 

 be prodigiosin-like in natiu'e. The chemical 

 formula, based on elementary analysis, was 

 C25H36 • O5N3CI. Several other streptomycetes 

 produced similar pigments. It was suggested 

 that the lipoactinochromes X and B of 

 Kriss belong to this group of pigments. 



Arcamone et al. (1957) confirmed Dietzel's 

 results concerning the production of a pro- 

 digiosin-like pigment by certain strepto- 

 myces, notably »S'. ruber and aS'. roseodiastati- 

 cits. This pigment had antibiotic properties 

 against gram-positive bacteria. 



Brown-black Pig men ts 



Various actinomycetes, notably species of 

 Micrermonos'pora and certain streptomycetes, 

 produce a pigment that ranges from orange- 

 brown to brown to black. Beijerinck assimied 

 that the brown substance was a quinone. 

 Waksman, Rubentschik, and others suggested 

 that it is a result of the action of the enzyme 



Table 49 



Growth (ind soluble pigment pruduction of S. griseus in calcium salts of 

 alpha-hydroxy and dibasic acids (Benedict and Lindenfelder) 



