Blasticidin S, A New Antibiotic

Abstract

The systematic screening studies for antibiotics inhibiting Piricularia oryzae, a cause of rice plant disease, have been made in our laboratory with cooperation of Fukunaga and others, National Institute of Agricultural Science, Tokyo.

A strain isolated from a soil sample collected at Gazaki, Wakayama Prefecture, produced antifungal substances which were named blasticidins A, B and C. This strain was identified to be a new species, Streptomyces griseochromogenes. These results were briefly reported by Fukunaga and others¹.

During further studies on blasticidins, an other antibacterial substance was isolated from the culture broth of the same strain. This antibiotic was different from blasticidins A, B and C and exhibited antibacterial effects on miscellaneous bacteria including Pseudomonas, and also a strong inhibition on Piricularia oryzae. It was named blasticidin S by the present authors. The production, isolation, and properties of blasticidin S are presented in this paper.