BIOASSAY OF ANTIBIOTIC P-9 BY THE DIRECT RESPONSE OF STEM RUST OF WHEAT

Abstract

A simple medium was found for the production of antibiotic P-9 used in experiments for the control of stem rust of wheat.A rust-infection bioassay method for the estimation of the potency of different production lots of filtrate was developed; potency was measured as the proportionate inhibition of stem rust (Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Erikss. & Henn. race 15B) infection on wheat seedlings in relation to log concentration of the material under test. The data from the bioassays took the form of a sigmoid curve when the concentrations were plotted arithmetically and of a straight line when they were plotted logarithmically. The slope of a weighted mean regression line based on 11 assays was regarded tentatively as characterizing pure antibiotic P-9.When the data of the 11 assays were adjusted for differences in potency between assays, the weighted mean regression line was statistically significant at the 1% point of probability. It is hoped that the slope of this line characterizes the pure antibiotic P-9 sufficiently well to be a useful tool in estimations of the relative purity of fractions obtained in the progressive purification of the antibiotic. Regression lines that differ from it substantially in slope may be suspected of influence from some extraneous factor.