Improved yields of daunomycinone glycosides in developmental mutants of Streptomyces coeruleorubidus.

When improving Streptomyces coeruleorubidus JA 10092, a producer of antibiotics of the daunomycinone complex, the most active variants were found among isolates of morphological types bld-1 (with a suppressed production of the aerial mycelium on organic media containing glucose) and whi (with an asporogenic aerial mycelium on glucose media and with the bald phenotype on media containing starch). Submerged cultures of the whi mutants produced increased quantities of daunomycinone glycosides in the antibiotic complex, the amount of free anthracyclinones being simultaneously decreased. The whi strains differed from the wild type also in higher demands for aeration, concentration of glucose and in an increased production capacity in starch media. The overall antibiotic activity increased more than 40 times after a six-step selection (application of UV light, gamma-radiation, nitrous acid and natural spreads) combined with an altered fermentation technology.