SERIES AND SPECIES OF GENUS STREPTOMYCES 



l i:; 



strain specific, bu1 doI characteristic of 

 streptomycin production. The use of strep 

 tomycin-resistanl and si reptomycin-de- 

 pendenl cultures of bacteria as test organ- 

 isms for the differentiation of the various 

 strains of S. griseus was considered as supple- 

 mentary to the foregoing differentiation 

 methods. 



It is of particular interest, in this con- 

 nection, to draw attention to the contusion 

 that lias arisen in some cases from Krassil- 

 nikov's attempt to change the name of the 

 streptomycin-producing organism. Just as 

 Waksman did previously, Krassilnikov came 

 to the conclusion that there is a difference 

 between the Krainsky and the Waksman 

 and Curtis cultures of .1. griseus. Although 

 he, likewise, had no opportunity to compare 

 Krainsky's original isolate with tin 1 strep- 

 tomycin-producing organism, he attempted 

 to draw conclusions on the basis of cultures 

 that he isolated himself, and proposed that 

 the name of the streptomycin-producing 

 organism he changed to Actinomyces globi- 

 sporus streptomycini (later changed to A. 

 sin ploini/rini). This suggested change was 

 most unfortunate for several reasons: (a) ;i 

 well described specific name, namely Strep- 

 tomyces griseus Waksman and Henrici, was 

 set aside merely for the sake of priority of ;i 

 name of a culture (A. griseus Krainsky) 

 which no one had ever seen and which was 

 not available in any culture collection; (b) a 

 name of an organism that had become rec- 

 ognized throughout the world because of its 

 important physiological and biochemical 

 properties, and especially because of its 

 capacity to produce a highly important 

 chemical substance, streptomycin, was 

 changed to a trinomial merely because of the 

 existence of an insufficiently described vari- 

 ety of an unknown culture. 



'Hie confusion thus became compounded 

 by this attempl to change the name of the 

 streptomycin-producing organism. We find, 

 in addition to the two names suggested by 



Table 23 

 ation of carbon sources In/ various strains of 

 Streptomyces griseus with nitrate as soura oj 

 nilrogi u (( >kami, L950 



Carbonsource Streptomycin (iris.-in Pink-pig- 



strain strain nu-nt strain 



( Hucose 

 ' .1\ cerol 

 Sucrose 

 Maltose 



Krassilnikov, the incorrect name- Actino- 

 myces griseus Waksman listed by Koreuiako 

 and Nikitina (Shorin, L957), Streptomyces 

 griseus Krassilnikov by Znamenskaia et al. 

 (1957), Actinomyces griseomycini by Gause 

 et al. (1957), and finally Streptomyces glo- 

 bisporus streptomycini by Severin and Gor- 

 skaia (1957). This confusion was fortunately 

 limited to the literature published in Rus- 

 sian. 



For the reasons presented here, Krassil- 

 nikov's modifications of the name N. grist us, 

 with all the subsequent confusing names, 

 cannot be accepted. In fact, the actual 

 culture, A. griseus (Krainsky) emend. 

 Krassilnikov (1949), belongs rather to the 

 Cinereus series. 



The logical name for the streptomycin- 

 producing species remains Streptomyces 

 griseus Waksman and Henrici. 



. 1 tl<l it /Dual Organisms 



Numerous other organisms belonging to 

 the Griseus series have been described as 

 species and ;is varieties. Some of the descrip- 

 tions are incomplete; and it is, therefore, 

 rather difficult to give them an exact posi- 

 tion. This is true, for example, of the cultures 

 described by Gause et al. (1957) under the 

 name .1. rubiginosohelvolus and some of the 

 other species placed in the series Helvolus. 

 See also llarada. L959. 



IV Series Hygroscopicus 



This series comprises organisms that form 

 a white to gray aerial mycelium, with a 



