Enhancement of antibiotic production by the use of sea water media.

pended upon the quantity of the maltose and the dextran added as well as the average molecular weight of the dextran added. The combination of all three factors yielded dextran with a relative viscosity as low as 1.6. The decrease in viscosity occurred in an orderly manner. For the recovery of dextran of clinical size, only the addition of dextran was of any value. A yield of 34.6 per cent of the recoverable dextran was attained, which was more than twice the recovery achieved by means of acid hydrolysis. In conclusion, a procedure for achieving a high dextran yield of molecular weight 75,000 i 25,000 by direct bacterial synthesis was successfully developed.