Production, long term preservation and synchronous germination of aerial spores of Streptomyces

Abstract

Vigorous vegetative growth of various Streptomyces species ( S. auroefaciens, S. collinus and S. granaticolor) was achieved in a new semisynthetic liquid medium. Unlike the media commonly used for the cultivation of the submerged mycelia of different streptomycetes, this one does not contain insoluble material which enables direct and reliable measurement of net production of biomass. The medium was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of all the three species. Is also supported production of antibiotic in each of the strains. A method for bulk preparation of Streptomyces aerial spores, involving cultivation on agar plates covered with cellophane, was developed. Advantage of this method lies in higher yields of spores, their higher purity and easier harvesting. The spores were activated by amild treatment with an Ultra-Turrax homogenizer resulting in the breakage of fibrous sheath, suspended in 20% glycerol, and stored at −60°C. Thus, treated spores germinated synchronously even after several months of the storage. Hence, such spore material may be used for precise inoculation in a large series of experiments implying synchronous germination, and the inoculations can be carried out from the same batch over a long period.