Abstract
IT has been shown in this department that penicillin, a substance produced by the Penicillium discovered by Fleming1, has very remarkable chemotherapeutic properties2. Consequently, it became of interest to see whether other species of moulds produced substances with similar properties. Of a considerable number of air–borne moulds studied, two were found to produce substances very similar to penicillin, both in its chemical and biological behaviour. Recently, however, a mould, probably belonging to the genus Aspergillus, was found to produce a powerful antibacterial agent with chemical properties different from penicillin and with an antibacterial range considerably greater than that of penicillin. In addition to the Gram–positive organisms known to be inhibited by penicillin, the growth of a number of Gram-negative organisms, such as Bact. coli, B. dysenteriæ (Shiga), the typhoid and paratyphoid bacilli and Vibrio choleræ, is inhibited by the culture filtrate, of this mould. An extract of this new antibacterial substance has been prepared from the culture filtrate, and it was found that it inhibited the growth of both the Gram–negative and Gram–positive organisms in a dilution of approximately 1: 200,000. It remains to be seen whether this substance bears any relation to the bactericidal agent in culture filtrates of Aspergillus flavus, described by E. C. White3.
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References
Fleming, A., Brit. J. Exp. Path., 10, 226 (1929).
Chain, E., Florey, H. W., Gardner, A. D., Heatley, N. G., Jennings, M. A., Orr-Ewing, J., and Sanders, A. G., Lancet, 2, 226 (1940); Abraham, E. P., Chain, E., Fletcher, C. M., Gardner, A. D., Heatley, N. G., Jennings, M. A., and Florey, H. W., Lancet, 2, 177 (1941).
White, E. C., Science, 92, 127 (1940).
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GLISTER, G. A New Antibacterial Agent produced by a Mould. Nature 148, 470 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148470b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148470b0
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