BIOSYNTHESIS OF MYCOBACILLIN, A NEW ANTIFUNGAL PEPTIDE. I. ROLE OF NUCLEIC ACID.

Banerjee, Arun B. (University of Calcutta, Calcutta, India), and S. K. Bose. Biosynthesis of mycobacillin, a new antifungal peptide. I. Role of nucleic acid. J. Bacteriol. 87:1397-1401. 1964.-The biosynthesis of mycobacillin, a cyclic polypeptide antifungal antibiotic, was studied in relation to the effect of chloramphenicol, 6-azathymine, and 5-bromouracil on the process. It was found that chloramphenicol inhibits both mycobacillin synthesis and growth, whereas nucleic acid base analogues inhibit only growth and nucleic acid synthesis but not mycobacillin formation. A change in the concentration of labeled aspartic acid in the general metabolic pool led to a corresponding change in the specific activity of aspartic acid isolated from different peptide fragments of the mycobacillin molecule, suggesting that mycobacillin synthesis occurs by way of linear addition of amino acid to the peptide chain.