C li a i) t e i « 



Description of Species of Streptomyces 



Detailed descriptions of the more im- 

 portant, recognizable species of the genus 

 Streptomyces are given in this chapter. Most 

 of these organisms have been isolated from 

 soils, composts, peats, and water basins; 

 some have come from dust and food ma- 

 terials, from plant disease lesions, and from 

 diseased animals and hnnians. Those iso- 

 lated from plant disease lesions may or may 

 not be the causative agents of such diseases; 

 they certainly should be considered on a par 

 with the soil-inhabiting forms. In the great 

 majority of cases, the cultures isolated from 

 diseased animals or from human infections 

 as well cannot be considered as the causative 

 agents of such diseases, since their patho- 

 genic nature has not been established ex- 

 perimentally. 



These descriptions vary greatly both in 

 the details of the observations reported and 

 in the uniformity of treatment of siich ob- 

 servations. For many of these observations, 

 the author had to depend on other com- 

 pilers of the literature, notably Brumpl 

 (1939), Lehmann and Neumann (1927), 

 Dodge (1935), Krassilnikov (1949), Erikson 

 (1935), Ettlinger et al. (1958), and others. 

 Unfortunately, one cannot avoid criticizing 

 the tendency of certain compilers to de- 

 scribe new species, and place others, often 

 well recognized and previously described 

 forms, as subspecies or as "also belonging 

 to this species," or the even worse tendency 

 of some classifiers to make certain minor 

 variations the basis for establishing varie- 

 ties of described organisms. In only a few 

 cases was an attempt made to compare newly 



isolated cultures with previously known, 

 although unfortunately not always avail- 

 able, type cultures. 



Although many of the synonyms have 

 been examined, no detailed data are pre- 

 sented concerning literature references. 

 Additional information can be found in the 

 latest edition of Bergey's Manual or in the 

 original papers in which the descriptions 

 have appeared. 



Because of the growing interest in actino- 

 mycetes as producers of antibiotics, numer- 

 ous studies of these organisms have been 

 made during the last 5 or (> years. Many new 

 species and numerous new varieties have 

 been described. Old species have been better 

 delineated. New systems of classification 

 have been proposed. Cooperative experi- 

 ments have been carried out. All this ma- 

 terial has now been critically examined, and 

 much additional information has been in- 

 eluded. 



The last edition of Bergey's Manual 

 (1 ( .).">7> contains descriptions of lot) Strepto- 

 myces species. The number lias nearly 

 doubled in the last ."> or (i years, as indicated 

 by the descriptions presented here. 



Description of Streptomyces Species 



1. Streptomyces abikoensum Umezawa '/ 

 al., L951 (Umezawa, II., Tazaki, T., and 

 Fukuyama, S. Japan Med. .1. I: 331 346, 

 L951; .1. Antibiotic (Japan) 5: 169 176, 

 1952; Okami, Y. ibid. 477-480). 



Morphology: Sporophores straight, short, 

 unbranched, bearing chain- of spores. No 

 spirals. Certain strains produce verticils. 



