Induction of resistance to aurodox by aurodox in the antibiotic-producing culture, Streptomyces goldiniensis.

The sensitivity of protein and aurodox synthesis to aurodox was examined in relationship to the development of resistance to aurodix on Streptomyces goldiniensis during fermentation. It was found that the culture remains sensitive to the antibiotic as long as no aurodox is present in the medium. Resistance only develops when aurodox is present, either exogenously added or endogenously synthesized by the culture. These observations suggest that the development of resistance is an inducible process, and evidence is presented indicating that aurodox induces a specific resistance system in S. goldiniensis.

Three novel polyether antibiotics X-14889A, C, and D from a streptomycete. Taxonomy of the producing organism, fermentation production and biological properties of the antibiotics.

Antibiotic X-14889A, C, and D are novel polyether antibiotics related to lysocellin and antibiotic X-14873A. They are produced by a streptomycete isolated from a soil of Wisconsin. The antibiotic X-14889C is active against Gram-positive bacteria and exhibits ionophore property.

X-14547A, a new ionophorous antibiotic produced by Streptomyces antibioticus NRRL 8167. Discovery, fermentation, biological properties and taxonomy of the producing culture.

X-14547A is a novel antibiotic produced by a new strain of Streptomyces antibioticus (NRRL 8167). The antibiotic is active in vitro against Gram-positive bacteria and is capable of complexing and transporting divalent as well as monovalent metal cations.

Novel polyether antibiotics X-14873A, G and H produced by a Streptomyces: taxonomy of the producing culture, fermentation, biological and ionophorous properties of the antibiotics.

Novel polyether antibiotics X-14873A, X-14873G, and X-14873H are produced by the fermentation of Streptomyces sp. X-14873 (ATCC 31679). This report presents taxonomic studies and fermentation conditions for the antibiotic producing culture. The antibiotics are mainly active against Gram-positive bacteria. The ionophore properties of X-14873A are also characterized.

Characterization of ionomycin as a calcium ionophore.

The ionophorous properties of a new antibiotic, ionomycin, have been studied. It was found that the antibiotic is capable of extracting calcium ion from the bulk of an aqueous phase into an organic phase. The antibiotic also acts as a mobile ion carrier to transport the cation across a solvent barrier. The divalent cation selectivity order for ionomycin as determined by ion competition experiments was found to be: Ca greater than Mg greater than Sr = Ba, where the binding of strontium and barium by the antibiotic is insignificant. The antibiotic also binds La3+ to some extent, but its complexation with monovalent alkali metal ions is negligible. Measurement of the binding of ionomycin with Ca2+ indicates that ionomycin complexes and transports calcium ion in a one to one stoichiometry.

Kinetic studies of Bacillus polymyxa nitrogenase.

Nitrogenase from the facultative anaerobe Bacillus polymxa was separated into its component proteins, which were recombined in the ratio that produced optimal specific activity (125 to 175 nmol of C2H2 reduced/min per mg of total protein). The apparent Michaelis constants (Km)for the magnesium adenosine triphosphate complex, reducible substrates azide, acetylene, and N2 and the nonphysiological electron donor hydrosulfite (S2O42-) were determined to be 0.7, 0.7, 0.2, 0.06, and 0.03 MM, respectively. These apparent Km values are in reasonable agreement with those reported for the nitrogenases of Azotobacter vinelandii and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Either a total lack of cooperativity between binding sites or a single binding site for reducible substrates is indicated by analysis of Hill plots. Hill plot slopes of approximately 1.7 suggest that multiple binding sites exist for both ATP and S2O42-.

Laccase localized in hulle cells and cleistothecial primordia of Aspergillus nidulans.

Several species of the genus Aspergillus form sexual spores within minute (approximately 0.2 mm) spherical shells (cleisthothecia) which are woven from specialized hyphae. Aspergillus nidulans cleistothecia are uniquely characterized by their dark red coloration and an envelope of thick-walled globose cells (hulle cells). By use of a new chromogenic substrate, we have shown that the constitutent hyphae of young cleistothecia and the hulle cells which surround the cleistothecia of A. nidulans exhibit a strong phenoloxidase activity which has the substrate specificity of a laccase. This enzyme (laccase II) is distinct from the previously described phenoloxidase (laccase I) that participates in the synthesis of the conidial pigment of A. nidulans: the two enzymes differ electrophoretically, do not cross-react immunologically, appear at different times during colonial development, and are under different genetic control. Examination of seven additional species of Aspergillus showed that the hulle cells of three acleistothecial species were also laccase positive, whereas the pale or unpigmented cleistothecia of four species (which lack hulle cells) were laccase negative. The relevance of these findings to the role of hulle cells in cleistothecial development is discussed. The presence of histologically detectable laccase in cleistothecial primordia provides a valuable tool, previously unavailable, for quantitating the early stages of sexual development in A. nidulans.

Mutants of Aspergillus nidulans blocked at an early stage of sporulation secrete an unusual metabolite.

Mutants of Aspergillus nidulans defective in conidiation (asexual sporulation) can be classified according to whether they are blocked before or after induction of conidiation. Mutants blocked before induction (preinduction mutants) appear to be unable to respond to the inducing stimulus and thus are defective in one of the earliest events in the sporulation process. Three preinduction mutants have been isolated and characterized. Each was found to exhibit the same pleiotropic phenotype: they also were defective in sexual sporulation and secreted a set of phenolic metabolites at a level much higher than did wild type or mutants blocked at later stages of conidiation. One of the metabolites has been identified as the antibiotic diorcinal (3,3'-dihydroxy-5,5'-dimethyldiphenyl ether) which is known to be involved in the synthesis of certain farnesyl phenols of unknown function. These results suggest that preinduction mutants are blocked in a phenolic metabolic pathway, one or more product of which participates in the initiation of sporulation.