Biosynthesis of tetracycline's. II. Simple, defined media for growth of Streptomyces aureofaciens and elaboration of 7-chlorotetracycline.

A number of nutrient media have been described by Goodman (1954), Katagiri (1954), Niedercorn (1952), Petty et al. (1953), Van Dyke and De Somer (1952), and others that allow Streptomyces aureofaciens Duggar to grow in aerated, liquid culture and to accumulate substantial quantities of 7-chlorotetracycline.' The concentrations of 7-chlorotetracycline accumulated on these different media vary from about 0.1 to 2.5 g per L. These media are, in general, complex in composition, making it difficult to define the requirements of the organism for growth and to determine the origins of the carbon and the nitrogen appearing in the accumulated 7-chlorotetracycline2 This paper describes a series of simple, chemically defined nutrient media suitable for growth and 7-chlorotetracycline production by S. aureofaciens strain BC-41, a strain which is characteristic of this species. It is a descendant, through a series of mutation treatments and selections, of the original S. aureofaciens strain A-377 soil isolate of Duggar. The data show that spores of strain BC-41 can germinate and form mycelium, which can produce 7-chlorotetracycline, all in a medium composed of very simple materials.