2001 Volume 77 Issue 5 Pages 79-82
Allosamidin is a chitinase inhibitor produced by Streptomyces. Allosamidin-producing Streptomyces is frequently found in soil. Allosamidin is a hydrophilic compound, but is found only in mycelia of its producer, and exogenous allosamidin is adsorbed on mycelia of its producing strain. We found that exogenous addition of allosamidin to a culture medium with colloidal chitin as a sole carbon source can strongly accelerate the chitinase production by an allosamidin-producing Streptomyces at low concentrations such as 1μM. On the other hand, allosamidin depressed the chitinase activity in the culture of Streptomyces lividans, an allosamidin-nonproducing microbe. These results suggest that allosamidin has a physiological role in its producer as an inducer of chitinase production, which may be useful for chitin utilization by the producer in chitin-rich environment such as in soil.
