Identity of antibiotic P-42-1 elaborated by Actinomyces tumemacerans with kanchanomycin and albofungin.

Antibiotic P-42-1 was isolated from the culture filtrate of Actinomyces tumemacerans strain INMI.P-42, and its detailed physicochemical and biological properties were investigated. The antibiotic was obtained as yellow crystals and its molecular formula was estimated to be G27H24N2O9.It was found to be highly active on a wide variety of gram-positive bacteria and fungi, whereas much less active on gram-negative bacteria. The antibiotic was cytotoxic to HeLa cell cultures and exhibited antitumor activity on Ehrlich ascites tumor in mice. Antibiotic P-42-1 was found to be closely related to antibiotic BA180265 A (kanchanomycin) and albofungin. According to structural studies on albofungin recently conducted by Russian workers, antibiotic P-42-1 proved to be identical with albofungin and kanchanomycin.