Production of cephalosporin C by single and double sulfur auxotrophic mutants of Cephalosporium acremonium.
An early blocked sulfur amino acid auxotroph, Cephalosporium acremonium mutant 274-1 (which could be satisfied by methionine or cysteine), utilized organic sulfur compounds for cephalosporin C production in the following order of decreasing effectiveness; methionine > cystathionine > cysteine, despite the fact that cysteine is considered to be the immediate precursor of the antibiotic. When a genetic block was added to mutant 274-1 in the transsulfuration pathway from cysteine to methionine, the double mutant 11-8 (which grows on methonine but not cysteine) failed to produce cephalosporin C from cysteine even though enough methionine was added to support normal growth. Addition of the non-sulfur analogue, norleucine, resulted in antibiotic production from cysteine in the double mutant. These facts support the hypothesis that methionine stimulation of cephalosporin C production is due to a role of methionine other than that of sulfur donation.
D000164:Acremonium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D003470:Culture Media; D009154:Mutation; D013455:Sulfur / Q000378:metabolism*
D002511:Cephalosporins; D003470:Culture Media; D013455:Sulfur