Polyene production of antagonistic Streptomyces species isolated from Sphagnum peat

Authors

• Olavi Raatikainen University of Kuopio, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland
• Jouko Tuomisto National Public Health Institute, Division of Environmental Health, P.O. Box 95, FIN-70701 Kuopio, Finland
• Risto Tahvonen Agricultural Research Centre of Finland, Institute of Plant Protection, FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland
• Heikki Rosenqvist Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, FIN-02150 Espoo, Finland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.72671

Abstract

Several isolates of Streptomyces species, suppressive against fungal growth and obtained from light-coloured Sphagnum peat, produced polyene antibiotics. The mechanism of growth suppression by these isolates is probably partially explained by antibiosis, since there was a significant difference in the antibiotic production by suppressive vs. non-suppressive isolates. The antibiotic consists of several individual components, which form an aromatic heptaene complex of the candicidin type containing p-aminoacetophenone and mycosamine moieties. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the antibiotic against yeasts and fungi was the same as that of candicidin.