Riboflavin(RF)-productivity of reseoflavin(RoF)-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus pumilusand Bacillus subtilis was studied. Twoof three types of resistant strains of S. aureus were shownto producemore RFthan the parent strains. Resistant strains of B. pumilus were also RF-producing, and one type (fp) of the resistant strains from B. subtilis HWproduced a large amount of RFin the culture medium.The hereditary stability of RF-producing properties of thefp type was also shown.
RoF,1}i.e., 8-dimethylamino-8-demethyl-D-riboflavin2) was isolated by Otani et al. from the culture filtrate of Streptomyces davawensis because of its antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. From its chemical structure, anti-RF activity was assumed to be the mechanismfor the antibacterial activity. It was demonstrated to be the case by Otani,3) and the anti-RF activity by RoF analogs by Kasai et al.4'5) One of the reasons for the clinical uselessness of RoF is the appearance of resistant strains of pathogens. In the course of studying RoF-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis, the production of a large amount of RF in the culture media by some of the resistant strains was found. The RFoverproducing strains hitherto obtained are not practically useful because of the lower productivity than Eremothecium ashbyii which is used for producing RF industrially, but
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