This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Klein, D. Articles by Pramer, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Klein, D. Articles by Pramer, D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Bacteriol. 1961 October; 82(4): 505-510
Copyright ©, 1961, The Williams & Wilkins Company. All Rights Reserved.

BACTERIAL DISSIMILATION OF STREPTOMYCIN¹

^a Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

ABSTRACT

KLEIN, DOLPH (Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, N. J.), AND DAVID PRAMER. Bacterial dissimilation of streptomycin. J. Bacteriol. 82:505–510. 1961.—The influence of various nutritional and environmental factors on the dissimilation of streptomycin by a pseudomonad isolated from soil was investigated, and conditions most suitable for growth of the bacterium, in a medium that contained streptomycin as a sole source of energy, nitrogen, and organic carbon, were determined. Development of the bacterium as measured by plate counts was correlated with degradation of streptomycin as measured by both biological and spectrophotometric assay procedures.

Periodic analyses of culture filtrates indicated that the three constituent moieties of the streptomycin molecule underwent simultaneous transformation when the antibiotic was degraded microbiologically. Washed cell suspensions were capable of immediate and rapid oxidation of streptomycin, dihydrostreptomycin, and hydroxystreptomycin, but cell-free sonic extracts, in the absence and presence of cofactors, did not oxidize streptomycin or any of a number of derivatives or degradation products of the antibiotic. Evidence was obtained that the bacterial dissimilation of streptomycin involves an oxidation system in which methylene blue can act as hydrogen acceptor.

¹ Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers, the State University, Department of Agricultural Microbiology. This work was supported in part by grant E1919 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service.