Studies on Streptomycetes

Part IV. Cultural Conditions for Production of Zygomycin A, a New Antibiotic, and Formation of Zygomycin B

Abstract

Investigation was made on the cultural conditions for the production of Zygomycin A by St. pulveraceus nov. sp. and on the factor responsible for the formation of Zygomycin B.
A medium consisting of glucose 2%, lactose 1%, soybean flour 2%, peptone 0.5%, Nacl 0.3%, and CaCO₃ 0.5% gave a broth with high potency, and a medium consisting of glucose 2%, lactose 1%, corn steep liquor 0.5%, soybean flour 1%, (NH₄)₂SO₄ 0.2%, MgSO₄·7H₂O 0.05%, NaCl 0.3%, and CaCO₃ 0.5% was suitable for preventing the loss during filtration because it was easy to filtrate.
In the tank culture, the coexistence of iron and soybean oil lowered the potency, but this shortcoming was removed by using silicon oil instead of soybean oil. The most suitable synthetic medium for the production of Zygomycin A was that consisting of starch 4%, glutamic acid monosodium salt 2.15%, K₂HPO₄ 0.024%, MgSO₄·7H₂O 0.04%, CuCl₂·2H₂O 0.0072%, FeCl₃·6H₂O 0.0144%, MnCl₂·4H₂O 0.0011%, ZnCl₂ 0.00036%, NaCl 0.5%, and CaCO₃ 0.5%. The antibiotic spectrum of Zygomycin B resembled that of streptomycin, and formation of the former antibiotic was accelerated by the addition of sodium chloride.