Isolation of an aminoglycoside hypersensitive mutant and its application in screening.

An aminoglycoside hypersensitive mutant, Kp-126, was isolated from the aminoglycoside-resistant strain, Kp-8, of Klebsiella pneumoniae through selection using sorbistin, a non-aminocyclitol-aminoglycoside antibiotic. The mutant Kp-126 was approximately 100-fold more sensitive to sorbistin than the parent strain Kp-8. The mutant also showed hypersensitivity to various aminocyclitol-aminoglycoside antibiotics. K. pneumoniae Kp-126 was used in screening and a new aminoglycoside antibiotic, 3,3'-neotrehalosadiamine (BMY-28251), was discovered in the fermentation broths of soil isolate strain of Bacillus pumilus.