Radamycin, a novel thiopeptide produced by streptomyces sp. RSP9. I. Taxonomy, fermentation, isolation and biological activities.

The newly isolated strain Streptomyces sp. RSP9 produces two thiopeptides; one of them is methylsulfomycin I, which shows potent antibiotic activity against several gram-positive bacteria such as Micrococcus luteus and Staphylococcus aureus. The other is a new thiopeptide named radamycin. In the present work, this compound was purified and tested against several microorganisms and no antibiotic activity was detected in the assays. However, it does have a very strong capacity as an inducer of the tipA promoter, and indeed is the first reported molecule with tipA promoter induction capacity without detectable antibiotic activity. Induction of the tipA promoter also occurs with methylsulfomycin I.