Development of a Chemically Defined Medium for the Synthesis of Actinomycin D by Streptomyces parvulus

A chemically defined medium, consisting ofd -fructose,l -glutamic acid,l -histidine, K2 HPO4 , MgSO4 ·7H2 O, ZnSO4 ·7H2 O, CaCl2 ·2H2 O, FeSO4 ·7H2 O, CoCl2 ·6H2 O, and deionized water, was developed for synthesis of high yields (500 to 600 μg/ml) of actinomycin D byStreptomyces parvulus . Under these nutritional conditions, growth and actinomycin formation did not follow a typical trophophase-idiophase pattern. The amino acids appeared to have a sparing action on the utilization ofd -fructose which was slowly and incompletely metabolized during mycelium development and antibiotic production. A significant repression of actinomycin synthesis byS. parvulus was observed whend -glucose (0.01 to 0.25%) was added to the culture medium. The repression was not due to a decline in the pH of the medium during glucose catabolism.