TAXONOMICAL STUDIES OF THE STREPTOMYCES PRODUCING ANTIMYCIN A-BLASTMYCIN GROUP ANTIBIOTICS

The comparative studies on the morphological and physiological characteristics of the cultures of blastmycin and antimycin A sources indicated that most of the strains may be related to each other. This idea was confirmed by the marked cross precipitin reactions of these organisms. They may be classified into three groups A, B-1 and B-2. The antimycin A-producing organism belongs to the former group and the blastmycin ones to the latter two groups. The absorption tests and OUCHTERLONY's gel diffusion methods suggested that three groups of the streptomyces may be serologically independant. The antigenic structure of the strain No. 455-D1 appear to be more complicated than those of the strains No. 2A-720 and No. 709-A1. They contain the specific antigen(s) and common antigen(s). A strain of antimycin A sources was observed to belong to the species Streptomyces griseus. It showed no cross precipitin reactions with the other organisms.