Abstract
RECENTLY we had occasion to examine the possible production of antibacterial materials by about twenty strains of Aspergillus flavus, A. oryzœ, A. tamarii and A. parasiticus. The culture fluids showed no significant antibacterial titres when a medium of the Czapek type was used; the test organism was Staphylococcus aureus and both the serial dilution method and the plate test1 were used. When the medium contained bactotryptone or 7–8 per cent of corn-steep liquor together with 4 per cent of glucose and inorganic salts, several of the strains of A. flavus and A. tamarii produced culture fluids which were weakly antibacterial, being completely inhibitory at dilutions of 1 : 30–80 after 5–14 days incubation at 22–24°. Far superior were the filtrates obtained from four strains of A. parasiticus, which gave titres of complete inhibition of 1 : 200–600 after 5–12 days at 24°. A concentrate of the product of one of these four strains was obtained by absorbing the antibacterial principle on charcoal and eluting with aqueous acetone, 50 per cent of the activity being so recovered.
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References
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Philpot, F. J., NATURE, 152, 725 (1943).
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COOK, A., LACEY, M. An Antibiotic from Aspergillus parasiticus. Nature 153, 460 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153460a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153460a0
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