Microbiological and Biochemical Studies on the Production of •• Erythromycin

Abstract

Many investigators study intensely the antibacterial products of metabolism of various streptomycetes. According to- the great importance of their therapeutic use, several antibiotics including erythromycin were studied. The yielding capacity of this antibiotic was monitored by the composition of the components of the fermentation medium. It was regulated in different ways by nutritional factors mainly (carbon and nitrogen sources) and .the presence of certain trace elements, amino acids and certain industrial by-products. Erythromycin produced by the wild type strain Saccharopolyspora erythraea NCIMB 8594 exhibit a therapeutic effect on gram positive and very few gram negative bacteria.

In this investigation, an attempt was carried out to optimize the factors affecting erythromycin production. The results of these experiments could be summarized as follows:

1. Saccharopolyspora erythraea NCIMB 8594 was cultivated on nine different constitutive media in order to investigate the best one. The selected medium contained (gil): corn steep liquor, 4ml; glucose, 25; 2 S04, 3; CaC03, 5.

2. The optimum incubation period for erythromycin production by the chosen organism on the previously mentioned medium was found to be 144h.