Abstract
A new antibiotic active against gram-positive bacteria was isolated from culture broths of Streptomyces kuwaitinensis nov. sp. obtained from Kuwait soil. The antimicrobial agent crystallized as dirty yellow needles that on acid hydrolysis yielded lysine, arginine, serine, glutamic acid and alanine as well as an unsaturated aliphatic acid, presumably of isohexadeca-3, 6-dienoic structure. Characteristics of the producing organism are given and consequently its systematic position among the verticillate Streptomyces species is discussed. Isolation and properties of the antibiotic, kuwaitimycin, are described.
