Prevalence and Distribution of Antibiotic-Producing Actinomycetes

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the prevalence and distribution of antibiotic-producing actinomycetes. Actinomycetes comprise a ubiquitous order of bacteria that exhibit wide physiological and morphological diversity. The majority of species are aerobic, saprophytic, mesophilic forms whose natural habitat is soil. In addition, the isolation and enumeration of actinomycetes, as well as the classification of actinomycetes isolated from soils, is described in detail in the chapter. This includes Antibiotic-Producing Actinomycetes. Several studies have shown that about 30 to 40% of Streptomyces soil isolates are of sufficient antibiotic interest when screened to be retained for further investigation. Obviously, the results depend on the screening methods and media used and on the number and variety of test organisms. It is probably safe to say that nearly all streptomycetes may be found to possess some antimicrobial properties if enough conditions are employed. The chapter further describes the variety of microorganisms capable of producing the same antibiotic. Iodinin has been isolated from streptomyces thioluteus brevibacterium iodinum, microbispora aerata, m . amethystogenes, m . parva, streptosporangium amethystogenes var. nonreducens, and several nocardia spp.