GROUPS AND SPECIES OF GENUS STREPTOMYCES 



113 



ample, a "Bostroem" series, for which no 

 true representative can be recognized at 

 present. Their scries "Antibioticus" and 

 "Caeruleus" cannol be accepted for other 

 reasons thai need not be discussed further 

 here. Certainly, the idea expressed by Bal- 

 dacci ei al. in L955 thai "it is not possible 

 to speak of a natural systemization of these 

 microorganisms a1 the present state of 

 knowledge . . . for the time being, one must 

 liniii oneself to a classification aiming solely 

 at diagnosis and nomenclature," represents 

 a defeatist attitude. It is well illustrated by 

 his creat ion of a series named "Diastal icus." 

 Here were included pigmented and nonpig- 

 mented organisms, chromogenic and non- 

 chromogenic, with such fantastic names as 

 .1. rubrocyanodiastaticus, and such varieties 



as atrodiastaticus. This is certainly a g I 



cause for confusion. 



Similar criticism can he applied to the 

 grouping of the species proposed by Gause 

 ei al. (1957). Whereas Baldacci used the 

 color of the substrate mycelium for primary 

 subdivisions of the genus into sections, and 

 the pigmentation of the aerial mycelium for 

 the further division of the sections into 

 series, Gause ei al. (1!)")") omitted the sec- 

 tions altogether, and divided the genus 

 directly into series largely on the basis of 

 the pigmentation of the aerial mycelium. 

 Descriptions of 'M old and 71 new specie- 

 were reported by a group of six collabora- 

 tors. The authorship was of a collective 

 nature, with all the possibilities for confusing 

 the credit to he assigned to each individual, 

 since it is stated that "the study of the 

 structure, classification, ecology and dis- 

 tribution of actinomycetes occupies the 

 attention of large scientific collectives in a 

 number of institutes and universities." 

 Proceeding from the fact that so many new 

 species have been recently created, in de- 

 scribing producers of antibiotics, these in- 

 vestigators assumed that this was further 



proof that the old systems of classification 

 were insufficient. Although it was recog- 

 nized that the pigmentation of the aerial 

 mycelium, the major criterion for classifica- 

 tion purposes, could change on continued 

 incubation, as in the case of their Group I, 

 "cultures with lavender and brownish-rose 

 pigment may change in color to salmon, red, 

 and pale terra cotta," nevertheless, b~> series 

 were adopted. This fad alone would tend to 

 cast doubt upon the significance of recog- 

 nizing major groups solely on the basis of 

 pigmentation of the aerial mycelium. In 

 establishing the species, structure of the 

 sporophores was used in some cases; in 

 others, the pigmentation of a -ingle medium, 

 frequently unknown in composition, was 

 used.* To complicate the situation further, 

 authors of old species and emendations of 

 species were incorrectly credited, providing 

 a potential source of confused nomenclature. 



Lieske (1021) was the classical "lumper," 

 largely because of the limitations imposed 

 by the use of complex organic media, and 

 because he was not aware of some of the 

 characteristic morphological and cultural 

 properties of the organisms, brought out 

 particularly on synthetic media. The "split- 

 ting" attitudes of Baldacci, Gause, and 

 certain others have brought the system of 

 classifying this important group of organ- 

 isms to undesirable extremes. 



In 1 he decision to classify the genus Strt />- 

 tomyces into lb series, it is well understood 

 that in time other series will be added; some 

 <>f those presented here may eventually be 

 split into two or more series; some of the 

 varieties may be raised to the status of 

 species; or some of the species may be raised 

 to the status of series. 



The problem of whether antibiotic produc- 

 tion is a species characteristic is still un- 

 settled. Undoubtedly, the production of 

 different antibiotics can be combined with 



* Hottinger's, to which no reference is given. 



