Effects of Natural Selection, Mutagenesis, and Protoplast Formation and Cell Wall Regeneration on the Production of Aminoglycoside Antibiotics

High producers or blocked mutants of aminoglycoside antibiotic-producing Streptomyces spp. were selected by application of an agar plug method and by culturing individual colonies in broth. The productivities of aminoglycoside antibiotic producing organisms were increased by selection of a high producer from colonies obtained by spreading spores of wild strain, or survived from treatment of a mutagen or from the colonies regenerated from protoplast-formation and cell-wall regenerations. Some mutagen treated colonies lost the ability to produce antibiotics (5-8%). Some A-factor negative and deostreptamine or streptidine negative mutants were obtained by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosomethylguanidine (MNNG) treatment. Many of the survivors from the MNNG treatment lost the ability to produce antibiotics. Major colonies produced less amount of antibiotics ; only few survived colonies produced more antibiotics than the parent. Resistance of Streptomyces spp. against the antibiotics produced by itself was also markedly affected by mutagen treatment.