CHARACTERIZATION OF STREPTOMYCES SPECIES 



73 



date from the early work of Waksman 

 (1919), who employed a synthetic solution 

 to which he added various carbon- or ni- 

 trogen-containing compounds. Liquid sub- 

 strata were employed and cultures were 

 incubated under static conditions. The use 

 of static liquid substrata was later found to 

 give misleading results. In some cases, uni- 

 form inoculum distribution is no1 achieved 

 unless considerable care is taken. Numerous 

 studies (Pridham and Gottlieb, L948; Bene- 

 dict et al., L955; etc.) indicate that solid 

 substrates and different basal media were 

 later used (Table 8 . 



I lata et al. (1!).">:;i found a correlation be- 

 tween the "roups and types of organisms 

 established on the basis of carbon utilization 

 and their antistreptomytic and antibac- 

 terial spectra. 



Zahner and Ettlinger (1957) did not at- 

 tach major significance to the utilization of 

 carbon sources for characterizing species of 

 Streptomyces. They suggested that such in 

 formation lie combined with other criteria. 

 None of the 12.") cultures they studied could 

 use dulcitol, for example. The best carbon 

 sources for characterizing Streptomyces spe- 

 cies were found to he raflinose, /-xylose, <l- 

 fructose, Z-arabinose, and d-mannitol. Gor- 

 don and Mihm (1959) considered asa species 

 characteristic the utilization of acetate, 

 malate, propionate, pyruvate, and succinate. 



None of the actinomycetes produce gas. 

 Some are able to form acid, such as lactic, 

 from certain carbon sources. Gordon and 

 Smith (1954) used acid production from lac- 

 tose, maltose, xylose, and mannose as one 

 of the criteria for differentiating Nocardia 

 and Streptomyces species. Gordon and .Mihm 

 (1959) later suggested for species separation 

 the use of acid formation from glycerol, glu- 

 cose, arabinose, erythritol, inositol, lactose, 

 maltose, niamhtol, and certain other carbon 



sources. 



T LB] i 8 



Carbon soura utilization by l '. natural 



variant strains of S. aureofaciens 



Backus et al., 1954 



* Used ;it 0.4 per cent level, all others at 1 per 

 ■cut . 



PROTEOLYTIC ACTIVITIES 



Among the proteolytic activities of diag- 

 nostic value in separating genera, liquefac- 

 tion of gelai in, hydrolysis of casein, and pep- 

 tonization of milk are very important. 



Species of Nocardia effect little, if any, 

 liquefaction of gelatin, whereas most species 

 of Streptomyces bring about liquefaction. 

 The rapidity of liquefaction varies greatly. 

 Some species show strong activity, and 

 others give only limited liquefaction. This 

 property, as well as milk peptonization, when 

 combined with the ability of the species lo 

 produce brown to black pigments, provides 

 significant criteria lor species characteriza- 

 tion. 



In a study of 177 cultures of Streptomyces, 

 Stapp (1953) found only one that did not 

 liquefy gelatin. Detailed studies <>n proteo- 

 lytic activities of actinomycetes are found 

 in the work of Waksman | L919), Jensen 

 (1930), Gordon and Smith l L955),and Kutz- 

 ner (1956), as well as in Vol. 1. pp. L83 186. 

 Waksman 1 1919) reported that of :;."> cultures 

 tested, 33 liquefied gelatin more or less raj)- 



