Production of a streptomycin-Park nucleotide complex by Streptomyces griseus

Abstract

A compound (compound X) with antibacterial activity was isolated from early-exponential-phase cultures of the streptomycin producer Streptomyces griseus and from protoplast cultures of the same strain. The protoplast cultures produced a larger amount of compound X than did the young hyphae. Both the mycelia and the protoplasts incorporated 14C-labeled myo-inositol, a precursor of streptomycin, into compound X, which has an amino acid content related to that of the cell wall peptidoglycan of the producer strain. Compound X may contain a streptomycin molecule covalently bound to a cell wall precursor unit, i.e., to a Park nucleotide (J. T. Park, J. Biol. Chem. 194:897-904, 1952), through the glutamic acid of the pentapeptide component.