Taxonomy and Fermentation of Kitasatosporia kimorexae Producing New Thiopeptide Antibiotics, Kimorexins

An isolate, 90-GT-302, was found to produce antibiotics inducing typical mycelial swelling in Magnaporthe grisea and Fusarium solani. This isolate formed yellow substrate and white rectiflexbiles aerial mycelia in the early stages of growth. The aerial mycelium gradually changed its color to white and finally formed a gray spore mass. Analysis of the cell wall acid hydrolysate revealed the presence of LL- and meso-diaminopimelic acids, glycine, and galactose, which indicated cell wall type X. This result placed our isolate in genus Kitasatosporia. A comparison of isolate 9O-GT-302 with reference strains of Kitasatosporia spp., which not only demonstrated several differences in their physiological properties but also novelty of the active compounds produced by this isolate, led us to designate the isolate as Kitasatosporia kimorexae.