[Overview and prospect on the genetic instability of Streptomyces--a review].

Genetic instability, such as morphological variation, is a common occurrence in Streptomyces. It causes lots of trouble in fermentation industry and research, such as strain degeneration and reduction of antibiotic productivity. The relationship between genetic instability and chromosome instability in Streptomyces has been well studied. It is very important to reveal the molecular mechanism of genetic instability for strain improvement and for construction of stable overproducing strains. In this review, the present status and prospect on the study of the genetic instability in Streptomyces are presented.