Metabolic conversion of aclacinomycins B and Y to A by pH shift during fermentation with Streptomyces lavendofoliae DKRS

Abstract

Aclacinomycin A, an antitumour antibiotic, was produced by fermentation with Streptomyces lavvendofoliae DKRS. Aclacinomycin A analogue compounds, such as aclacinomycins B and Y which are less effective as antitumour agents, were also produced in significant amounts. These analogue compounds could be converted to aclacinomycin A by incubation with the washed cell preparation as previously reported with S. galilaeus(Hoshino, T., Sekine, Y., Fujiwara, A. (1983) J.Antibiot. 36, 1458–1462). It was also found that the analogue compounds could be metabolically converted to aclacinomycin A by changing the pH of the culture broth at a later stage of fermentation. This metabolic conversion is expected to lead to additional benefits in the purification of aclacinomycin A as well as its increased production.