Abstract
Cephalosporin C negative mutants, lacking a certain step in the pathway of cephalosporin C biosynthesis, were obtained from Cephalosporium acremonium ATCC 14553 by treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. Among these mutants, the strains Nos. 20, 29, 36 and 40 were found to exclusively accumulate a cephalosporin compound other than cephalosporin C. The compound was isolated as crystals from the culture broth of the mutant No. 40, and identified as deacetylcephalosporin C, possessing a D-α-aminoadipyl side chain at C-7 by physical and chemical methods. Deacetylcephalosporin C production profile and examination of degradation rate of cephalosporin C in fermentation medium led us to the conclusion that deacetylcephalosporin C would be produced through de novo synthesis in these mutants.
