AN'i\\(;(»Msiic i'i{()i'i:inMi':s 



215 



st I'aiiis wcfc ;ml;i,!i()iiist ic to l\h . Iiipini. ( )t her 

 species oi h' hi zohiit HI wvvv iiiliil)it(Ml hy iVwcr 

 strains: Rh. Irifolii was inliihitcd liy only !) 

 strains, and tlu^ cow pea rhi/.ohia by only I 

 strain. 



Ill 1952, Poppo and Strntz isolated, tVom 

 soil and ot her mat tcr, 'J'JO cnlt urcs of act iiio- 

 niyci'tcs. ( )t' tiu'sc, (I'J possessed antibacterial 

 l)i-opei-ties. 'I'en of the active cultures were 

 found to exert a stronj>; eti'ect upon \arious 

 j>;rani-posit i\'e l)acteria. Cdycerol-glycocoll 

 solution pro\ed to be especially useful in the 

 production of the antibiotic substances. 



Lindner and AVallhausser (1955) isohited 

 2,500 antagonistically active cultures of 

 streptomyces from -10,000 soil samples. Their 

 distribution in different soils is shown in 

 Table 5(3. Of these, 77 per cent were active 

 upon gram-positive bacteria {Staph, aureus), 

 40 per cent upon gram-negati\'e bacteria (E. 

 coll), 32 per cent upon mycobacteria {M. 

 tuberculosis 607), and 18 per cent upon fungi 

 (.1. niger). Wallhausser (1951) pi'oposed a 

 series of charts for representing the mode of 

 growth inhibition of one organism by an- 

 other. 



The results obtained in these sur^•eys were 

 found to depend upon the test organisms 

 used, the composition of the media upon 

 which the organisms were grown, and various 

 experimental conditions. Most of the active 

 cultures belonged to the genus Streptomyces. 

 However, Endo, who tested the activity of 

 1 16 strains of Nocardia upon 10 bacteria and 

 6 fungi and yeasts, found that 27 per cent 

 of all strains were active upon at least one 

 of the test organisms. The conclusion was 

 i-eached that the Nocardia group has as high 

 percentage of active strains as Streptomyces. 

 The genus Micromonospora as well was found 

 to be capable of exerting antagonistic effects 

 against certain bacteria. 



Craveri et al. (1957) isolated 500 cultures 

 of streptomyces from ^•arious soils in Italy. 

 Just about a half had the capacity to inhibit 

 microbial growth on solid media. Among the 



Tahi-k .")(■) 



DiKlnhiititiii (if (uildfinnislic slreplomyces 



(l-iii(liiiT and Wallliiius.ser) 



Nature of soil and vegetation 



Per cent of active strains 



( '(nn|)()sts 

 ( lai'dcii soils 

 iMcld soils 

 l*asture.s 

 Forest soils 

 1 5 row II soil 

 River muds 

 Virgin soils 



8.6 



7.4 



14.8 



18.6 



17.2 



7.4 



3.8 



22.2 



latter, about one-third produced an antibi- 

 otic substance when grown in liquid media 

 under submerged conditions. The pei'centage 

 of the cultures active upon gram-positive 

 bacteria only was higher than that of strains 

 active upon both gram-positive and gram- 

 negative bacteria. No culture was found to 

 be active only upon gram-negative bacteria. 

 Of the cultures active only upon gram-posi- 

 tive bacteria, about 20 per cent were active 

 upon B. suhtilis, 20 per cent upon Staph, 

 aureus only, and about GO per cent upon 

 both. 



Jarikova et al. (1958) isolated 1,879 actino- 

 mycete cultures from soils of diff'erent re- 

 gions of the Soviet Union; of these, 1,2G2 

 cultures, or 67.2 per cent, proved active un- 

 der the conditions of their experiments. The 

 largest number were found in the greenhouse 

 soil of the Botanical Garden, in meadow- 

 granular soils, and in steppe soils, as well as 

 in light chestnut soils. The greatest number 

 of cultures having activity were found in 

 soils of eastern and southern regions. 



Attention must be directed to the fact 

 that generalizations concerning the charac- 

 terization of certain types of soil by the oc- 

 currence of specific antagonists are hardly 

 justified unless they are based upon detailed 

 and oft-repeated investigations. 



Antifungal Surveys 

 The ability of various actinomycetes to 

 antagonize the growth of fungi has long 



