Biochemical studies on the Natamycin antibiotic produced by Streptomyces lydicus: Fermentation,extraction and biological activities

Natamycin polyene antibiotic was isolated from the fermentation broth of a streptomyces strain no. az-55. according to the morphological,cultural,physiological and biochemical characteristics,and 16s rdna sequence analysis,strain az-55 was identified as streptomyces lydicus. it is active in vitro against some microbial pathogens viz: staphylococcus aureus,nctc 7447; bacillus subtilis,nctc 1040; bacillus pumilus,nctc 8214; micrococcus luteus,atcc 9341; escherichia coli,nctc 10416; klebsiella pneumonia,ncimb 9111; salmonella typhi and pseudomonas aeruginosa,atcc 10145; s. cerevisiae,atcc 9763; candida albicans,imru 3669; aspergillus flavus,imi 111023; aspergillus niger,imi 31276; aspergillus fumigatus,atcc 16424; fusarium oxysporum; alternaria alternata and rhizoctonia solani. the active metabolite was extracted using chloroform (1:1,v/v) at ph 7.0. the separation of the active ingredient of the antifungal agent and its purification were performed using both thin layer chromatography (tlc) and column chromatography (cc) techniques. the physico-chemical characteristics of the purified antibiotic viz. color,melting point,solubility,elemental analysis (c,h,n,o and s) and spectroscopic characteristics (uv absorbance and ir,mass & nmr spectra) have been investigated. this analysis indicates a suggested empirical formula of c33h47no13. the chemical structural analysis with spectroscopic characteristics confirmed that the compound produced by s. lydicus,az-55 is natamycin polyene antibiotic. © 2012 production and hosting by elsevier b.v.