Enzymatic phosphorylation of streptomycin by extracts of streptomycin-producing strains of Streptomyces.

Extracts of post-exponential phase mycelia of Streptomyces bikiniensis ATCC 11062, and other streptomycin-producers, catalyze phosphorylation of streptomycin and dihydrostreptomycin with adenosine-5'-triphosphate. The phosphate is esterified with an -OH group of the streptidine moiety. It is suggested that O-phosphoryl-streptomycin might serve as an intracellular precursor of extracellular streptomycin or as a detoxification product of streptomycin or that it might serve an unknown physiological function in the producing organism.