Role of the carbon source in regulating chloramphenicol production by Streptomyces venezuelae: studies in batch and continuous cultures

Abstract

Both carbon- and nitrogen-limited media that supported a biphasic pattern of growth and chloramphenicol biosynthesis were devised for batch cultures of Streptomyces venezuelae. Where onset of the idiophase was associated with nitrogen depletion, a sharp peak of arylamine synthetase activity coincided with the onset of antibiotic production. The specific activity of the enzyme was highest when the carbon source in the medium was also near depletion at the trophophase–idiophase boundary. In media providing a substantial excess of carbon source through the idiophase, the peak specific activity was reduced by 75%, although the timing of enzyme synthesis was unaltered. Morever, chemostat cultures in which the growth rate was limited by the glucose concentration in the input medium failed to show a decrease in specific production of chloramphenicol as the steady-state intracellular glucose concentration was increased. The results suggest that a form of "carbon catabolite repression" regulates synthesis of chloramphenicol biosynthetic enzymes during a trophophase–idiophase transition induced by nitrogen starvation. However, this regulatory mechanism does not establish the timing of antibiotic biosynthesis and does not function during nitrogen-sufficient growth in the presence of excess glucose.