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Effect of water activity on production of β‐lactam antibiotics by Streptomyces clavuligerus in submerged culture
Author(s) -
Cochet N.,
Demain A.L.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1996.tb03228.x
Subject(s) - streptomyces clavuligerus , antibiotics , lactam , beta lactam , streptomyces , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biology , bacteria , stereochemistry , clavulanic acid , genetics , amoxicillin
The amount of available water in the environment of micro‐organisms, defined as water activity ( a W ), has been shown to affect growth, respiration, enzyme synthesis, sporulation and other physiological functions. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of a W on production/excretion of a secondary metabolite. For this purpose, the production of β‐lactam antibiotics and biomass of Streptomyces clavuligerus was studied in relation to the a W ‐depressing agents glucose, sorbitol and NaCl. These were chosen because NaCl and sorbitol are often used to depress a W and glucose was not thought to be taken up by S. clavuligerus. The filamentous bacterium S. clavuligerus NRRL 3585 (ATCC 27064) is a prokaryotic producer of penicillin N, cephalosporins including cephamycin C and clavulanic acid. Under water stress conditions, a greater effect upon antibiotic biosynthesis than upon growth was consistently observed. When a W was decreased to below 0·997, antibiotic production began to decrease. For growth, inhibition was much more gradual and did not become intensive until an a W of 0·990 was reached.