Studies on the promoting agent obtained from houttuyna cordata (dokudami) for the production of the antibiotic substance by a strain of gram positive, spore bearing bacilli.

(• ¯ " ‡ OE[ˆê • ")(‰ª • " • º ƒ') Some substances to promote the production of antibiotics were re ported already by many authors. According to Knight1) the use of corn steep liquor in the media of Penicillium chrysogenum increased the production of Penicillin. Koffler and others2) investigated on the promoting elements of corn steep liquor and reported that one element was the combination of a Fe-ion and a soluble phosphor salt. It became clear that the phenyl-acetic acid is a cleavage product of penicillin G. So many authors investigated on the promoting action of phenyl-acetic acid and its derivatives for penicillin production. Higuchi and others,3) Jarvis and Johnson,4) Moyer and Goghill,5) Cook and Brown,6) and Umezawa7) reported on the action of phenyl-acetic acid and its derivatives (for instance p-phenyl ethylamine, p-hydroxy phenyl acetic acid, phenylacetoamide, nitrophenyl acetic acid, p-amino phenyl acetic acid, p-oxyphenyl acetic acid and one derivative contained in corn steep liquor.) Okunuki and others8) had reported that some peptides had promoting activities on penicillin production. Regarding the promoting substances for another antibiotic produced by actinomycetes, mould and bacteria, there are many decriptions to be mentioned. 9) One of us (H. Okabe)10) had isolated a strain of Gram positive spore forming bacilli from some soils collected in Sendai, which possessed an antagonistic property. For the production of the antibiotic the following was used as a basal medium. 265