Production of Antibacterial Compounds Analogous to Chloramphenicol by a n-Paraffin-grown Bacterium

Abstract

Corynebacterium sp. KY 4339, when grown on n-paraffin (a mixture of C-12 to C-14 fractions) as the sole carbon source, produced three kinds of antibacterial compounds which were tentatively named Corynecins. These compounds were isolated by the extraction from the culture broth with ethyl acetate and by the chromatographies on silicic acid and alumina columns. Each component demonstrated some similarity to chloramphenicol on thin-layer chromatogram. Although their biological activities were not so remarkably as that of chloramphenicol, the patterns of antibacterial spectra against gram-positive and gramnegative bacteria resembled to it.
For the production of corynecins, n-paraffin was a preferable carbon source. By controlling the pH of the medium in the neutral range and keeping the aeration at a high level during the fermentation, approximately 3g of corynecins per liter of the medium were produced after 72-hr incubation.